A 10-year-old Indian girl who was allegedly raped by a neighbour was locked in a cell overnight by police when her family tried to report the crime.
The girl was reportedly found barely conscious following the attack close to her home in a village a two hour drive from Delhi last weekend.
Her family are now facing death threats and being told to withdraw the complaint.
Mother of ten Saroj sent two of her six daughters – the younger of the two aged five – to buy vegetables for the family’s evening meal on Sunday, according to The Times.
When the pair were on their way home, the older sister was abducted by a man who was following them.
The younger of the two girls is said to have run home to tell her parents who found the ten-year-old 100 yards from home.
The girl’s detention by police has led to an outcry over police oversensitivity and officers have arrested a 29-year-old man from a higher caste on suspicion of rape in response to media pressure.
But since the man’s arrest the family, who are one of four classed as Dalit, a group of people regarded as ‘untouchable’, have been threatened by members of the higher Rajput class.
Saroj told the Indian Express: ‘They are blaming us saying why did we let her go out alone.
‘They have been threatening to kill us, burn down our home and stone my daughter to death if we do not withdraw the rape case.’
The family now hopes that the media attention their case has attracted will force the police to protect the girl.
Outrage: The gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old student sparked widespread protests in India in December over the treatment of women
The issue of women’s safety has been top of the political agenda since a 23-year-old student was gang-raped and left for dead on a bus in Delhi in December.
That case sparked outrage and widespread protest at the treatment of women in the country.
The Indian government has proposed a number of reforms to protect women including scrapping degrading medical examinations at police stations for rape victims.
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