New Delhi:
Arvind Kejriwal, founder of the new Aam Aadmi Party, wants Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Delhi Police chief Neeraj Kumar to quit over last week's rape of a five-year-old in Delhi.
Mr Kejriwal's call for their resignation came after Mr Kumar ruled out his resignation. "If resigning would help, I would resign 1000 times," he said.
Since Friday, Mr Kejriwal's party has been among the groups organizing protests at different parts of Delhi including the Police Headquarters to shame the police for its alleged apathy and attempt to cover up the case by offering a bribe to the child's father.
The demonstrations over the weekend echo the much larger protests that followed the brutal gang-rape of a medical student on a moving bus in Delhi in December.
At that time, the government pledged it would place women's safety at the top of its agenda. The police said it would train its officers to improve how they handle cases of sexual violence.
Mr Kejriwal's party has claimed that its focus on the five-year-old's case forced an unwilling police to follow up on her father's complaint that she was missing, and helped move her from an East Delhi hospital to the better-equipped AIIMS, where she is now reported to be stable.
The five-year-old went missing April 15 and was found two days later in a locked room in the same building where she lives with her family. The girl was alone when she was found, having been left for dead by her attackers, police say. Her mother heard her cries. The police admits it did not search the house.