India Rape Victim, 4, Dies

Unlike young Delhi victim, her rape sparked no protests
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 30, 2013 8:28 AM CDT
India Rape Victim, 4, Dies
Women activists of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party shout slogans during a protest against the rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi, in Hyderabad, India, Tuesday, April 23, 2013.   (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

This month's rape of a 5-year-old girl in New Delhi, India, sparked massive protests; but another young victim who got no such attention after being raped and left for dead has died, the New York Times reports. The 4-year-old was coaxed away from her home in Madhya Pradesh on April 17, and was found bleeding severely the next day by her parents. She had been in a coma and on a ventilator since then, with severe injuries to her brain and vagina. She died last night of cardiac arrest.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the attack; police say one lured her by promising to buy her bananas from an area shop. Some are angry at what they see as an imbalanced reaction: "The value of life for a little girl whether in Delhi or Madhya Pradesh is the same," says a lawyer from the area. "So why are people not coming on to the streets when this girl has died?" Sadly, juvenile rape, or at least the reporting of it, is on the rise in India, with such attacks on girls under 10 numbering 875 in 2011—more than double 1990's figure. (More child rape stories.)

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