A seven-year-old girl has been allegedly gang-raped by two boys aged seven and eight, in the latest horrific sexual assault in India.
The boys are accused of raping the young girl on Friday in the town of Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, local media reported.
According to the victim’s family, the girl was bathing when the boys took her to another location, where they raped her.
Police added that her family took the seven-year-old to hospital when her condition deteriorated on Saturday. Her condition is not considered life-threatening.
Both boys were arrested and interrogated. They reportedly confessed to the gang rape.
The horrific rape came just a month after thousands of women took to the streets in India to call for measures to tackle sexual violence after a junior doctor was brutally raped and murdered in a state hospital in Kolkata.
Thousands of women took to the streets in India in August to call for measures to tackle sexual violence
The boys are accused of raping the young girl on Friday in the Uttar Pradesh town of Ballia, local media reported.
The largest event, described as a ‘Reclaim The Night’ march, saw thousands of protesters gather at the city’s busy Shyambazar crossing at the start of the country’s Independence Day celebrations on August 14
Smaller protests took place in other Indian cities including Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.
The largest event, described as a ‘Reclaim The Night’ march, drew thousands of protesters who gathered at the city’s busy Shyambazar crossing at the start of the country’s Independence Day celebrations in August.
The event’s lead organizer, 29-year-old social sciences researcher Rimjhim Sinha, said she hoped the protest would mark the beginning of systemic change in the country, which has long been plagued by gender-based violence.
The heinous crime that sparked the nationwide protest was the murder of a 31-year-old female medical resident at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. She was raped and murdered while she was working in a seminar hall that was supposed to be secured.
Officials, including the medical faculty’s director, Dr. Sandip Ghosh, tried to dismiss the young woman’s death as suicide.
Ghosh, who has since stepped down as a prestigious figure, said: “It was irresponsible of the girl to go to the seminar hall alone in the evening.”
A volunteer hospital worker attached to the Calcutta police, locally known as Sanjay Roy, has since been arrested in connection with the attack.
The murder and rape case has since been taken over by the country’s Central Bureau of Investigation after claims local police were not investigating the case fairly.
Sinha said: “The brutality of this case is infuriating. It is not just another rape case where survivors can speak for themselves – this time we lost a life.
‘The aggressiveness of these crimes is increasing and it is clear that women are increasingly becoming victims of these criminal activities.’