2 teens arrested in connection with the rape of a toddler in Indian capital
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two teenagers have been arrested and were being questioned Sunday for allegedly raping a toddler, in the latest incident of sexual violence against a young child in the Indian capital.
Police had formed 15 teams and questioned more than 250 residents of the western Delhi neighborhood where the 2 ½-year-old girl was raped and left bleeding in a park on Friday night, police said.
The two 17-year-old boys were arrested late Saturday, said Dependra Pathak, a top police officer.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The toddler was playing outside her home on Friday when she went missing during a 10-minute power outage in the neighborhood. Family members found the child lying unconscious and bleeding in a park three hours later.
In a separate incident, police on Saturday arrested three men for raping a 5-year-old in an east Delhi suburb.
The rape of the two little girls comes a week after a 4-year-old girl was found dumped near a railway track after being raped and slashed with a blade.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The assaults have caused uproar, with Delhi residents accusing the city's government of failure to protect women and girls.
In December 2012, the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old medical student on a moving bus led to a national outcry. In response to that attack, the government doubled the maximum prison term for rape to 20 years, created special courts to prosecute cases more quickly, and made voyeurism and acid attacks specific crimes under the law.
India's National Crime Records Bureau says more than 2,000 girls and women were raped in New Delhi in 2014.