The second suspect in the alleged rape and torture of a five-year-old girl in Delhi is an illiterate teenager who has allegedly confessed to his crime.
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Nineteen-year-old Pradeep Kumar, a mason, was found by police at a relative’s house in Lakhisarai in the eastern state of Bihar, two days after his friend, and alleged accomplice in the crime, 22-year-old Manoj Sah, was arrested.
"I have committed a big mistake," Kumar reportedly said as he was taken away by police.
The pair is accused of kidnapping the girl and holding her hostage in a locked apartment in the building where she lived with her family.
She was held for almost 40 hours, repeatedly raped and tortured, including being raped with a candle and with a bottle, which were found inside her body.
She was found when neighbours heard her cries.
The girl is currently in a serious, but stable, condition, in a Delhi hospital. She has suffered severe internal injuries, infections and bite marks.
Dr D.K. Sharma from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences told reporters the girl was improving.
"She’s conscious, alert and talking to her parents, the nurses, and the doctors," he said.
"At this point we can say that her life is not in danger."
Indian press have reported that Sah told police they used chocolate to lure the girl to the apartment where she was attacked.
The two men had been drinking, but Sah said only Kumar raped the girl.
They fled the house, and Delhi, after they tried to strangle the girl, thinking she was dead.
The brutal attack has led to another wave of protests onto the streets of Delhi over the safety of women.
In December, after the death of a 23-year-old who was gangraped on a bus and left for dead on the side of the road, the city was seized by widespread demonstrations, angry at ineffective legislation, and a perception police were corrupt and uninterested in investigating cases of sexual assault.
This week and last, protestors have gathered at Delhi Police Headquarters, demanding the resignation of commissioner Neeraj Kumar and for justice for the victim.
Police closed three inner-city metro stations to stop people getting to the protest site and barricaded key buildings, to avoid a repeat of the violence that accompanied December’s protests.
Parliament was suspended during Monday’s budget hearing.
There is a political element to the protests, opposition parties the BJP and AAP, see political advantage in disrupting the Congress-led coalition government, and drawing attention to its inability to stem the number of attacks against women, particularly in the capital.
From January to March this year, there were 393 cases of rape reported in Delhi, compared to 661 for all of last year.
The greater number is partly attributable to a higher reporting rate, but many rapes, experts argue, still go unreported.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged officials to address the issue of women’s safety.
"The gruesome assault on a little child a few days back reminds us of the need to work collectively to root out this sort of depravity from our society," he said.
