8 month old raped allegedly by cousin in Delhi

NEW DELHI:  An eight-month-old baby was raped allegedly by her 28-year-old cousin in Delhi, and needed a three-hour surgery, after which she is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The accused lives in the same building and has confessed to the crime, police said.

The baby was brought, severely wounded and bleeding, to the hospital on Sunday evening. She was assaulted at her home in west Delhi's Subhash Nagar when her parents were both out for work, according to the police. "I left for duty and later my wife also had to leave for about an hour," said the baby's father, a labourer. The child was left in the care of a relative in the building.

When the mother, a domestic help, returned, she found the baby crying on a bed that was full of blood. The baby was taken to hospital, where it was confirmed that she had been raped. The family told the police that they suspected the child's cousin, a father of two, who was missing. The man was arrested last evening. According to the police, he confessed during his interrogation. He had allegedly taken away the baby saying he wanted to play with her.

"This man puts humanity to shame. He has a daughter and a son, despite being a father he did this," said Swati Maliwal, who heads the Delhi Commission for Women. Hitting out at the police in a series of tweets, she raged: "This is not the rape of an eight-month-old child but the rape of the Delhi Women's Commission."

The police have charged the accused man under stringent laws on crimes against women and those against children.The rapes have jolted Haryana just days after the state government basked in its most heartening sex ratio ever - 914 girls to 1,000 boys - and credited its "beti bachao, beti padhao (save daughters, educate them)" campaign with the vast improvement.