New Delhi:
Outrage over rapes, amplified by the assault of a four-year-old in Delhi, held up Parliament this morning as MPs including actor-politician Jaya Bachchan demanded a discussion.
"It is a matter of a four-year-old girl...I want a discussion in this house," Mrs Bachchan, a Samajwadi Party MP, said in the Rajya Sabha.
The child was playing outside her house when she was lured with a soft drink and raped, allegedly by her 28-year-old neighbor, on Sunday. The attacker was caught by the girl's family and neighbours while he was trying to dump her in a drain, bleeding, unconscious and severely wounded.
The girl needed surgery. "Met 4 year old rape victim. Marks over her body tell her brutal ordeal. In deep pain n trauma. Totally inhuman. When will Delhi b rape free? (Sic)," tweeted Delhi Commission For Women chief Swati Maliwal.
Mrs Bachchan said: "The child was bleeding and hospitalized. I think the government has to take this as a very serious issue."
Deputy chairman PJ Kurien said: "I understand this is an important issue. I will allow a discussion later."
On Sunday, a 14-year-old girl who died after being raped repeatedly and forced to drink acid, was compared to Nirbhaya, the young student whose fatal gang-raped in 2012 jolted the nation and became a turning point for laws on crimes against women.
Ms Maliwal said Delhi remains unsafe for women because of the poor coordination between the Centre and Delhi government and the lack of proper policing.