Delhi protests rage, barricades broken at Sonia house

New Delhi, April 21 (IANS) Dozens of BJP women activists Sunday marched to Congress president Sonia Gandhi's house and broke barricades on the way to denounce the brutal rape of a five-year-old as protests raged for a second day in the capital.

Shouting "Enough is enough!" and "Save the girl!", the women members of the Bharatiya Janata Party attempted to reach 10 Janpath in the heart of the city.

After Saturday's protest at the same site, police had erected barricades some distance away from the highly secured house. But the women broke them in a bid to enter it.

Most women were immediately taken away in a bus by police but many others kept raising slogans against the barbaric rape that has shocked the country.

The victim, daughter of a poor labourer, is being treated in a hospital. She is said to be stable. The accused has been arrested.

Protests continued in the capital elsewhere too.

Dozens of people laid siege to the Delhi Police headquarters demanding the sacking of Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar.

Many of the young protesters who raised slogans and waved banners were members of Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) party.

As the police put up barricades to keep the crowds away from the headquarters, demonstrators squatted on an otherwise busy road facing it, clapping and singing songs.

The protesters are seeking the sacking of two policemen who delayed registering a complaint even after the victim's parents complained of the girl's disappearance.

Police have suspended the two officials. A third officer was suspended for slapping a woman protester.

According to the victim's family, police first refused to file a case. Later, they refused to search for the missing girl. Finally, when the girl was found, they tried to bribe the family to keep silence.

At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where the victim is warded, crowds were on the main road outside raising slogans demanding death to the rapist.

Police have barricaded the main entrance to the hospital to enable easy entry and exit for patients and ambulances. On Saturday, a section of the crowds had blocked ambulances too.

Doctors earlier removed pieces of candle and a bottle from her vaginal orifice. A doctor treating her admitted he had never before witnessed such brutality committed on a child.