NEW DELHI: The plight of a five-year-old girl who was brutally raped and tortured in east Delhi and could be rescued only three days later, as reported in TOI, because of police callousness and insensitivity, led to widespread public outrage on Friday. The child is now battling for her life at AIIMS where she was shifted from Swami Dayanand Hospital in Dilshad Garden when public anger boiled over leading to heckling of Delhi health minister A K Walia and the slapping of a 17-year-old girl protester by a senior cop. A string of protests has been scheduled for Saturday.Reading the mood early, a government that had faced a lot of flak over the Nirbhaya incident barely four months ago, moved into damage control mode with a string of high-level meetings, culminating in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing deep regret over the incident. Within hours, the SHO of Gandhi Nagar police station, the first investigating officer of the case and the ACP who had slapped the girl had been suspended.What fuelled public anger were allegations by the family of the victim that not only did the cops first delay filing the FIR and then failed to search their house, wasting precious time, they also tried to fend them off with an amount of Rs 2,000 after the child was rescued. They were told to be happy that she was alive, the family has alleged. A vigilance inquiry has been ordered and the report is to be submitted within 24 hours.The brutality, bordering on the bestial, has shocked the conscience of the city. “We found a 200ml bottle and two-three pieces of candle inserted into her private parts. This is the first time I have seen such barbarism,” said R.K. Bansal, medical superintendent of Swami Dayanand Hospital. “There were injuries on her lips, cheeks, arms and anus area. Her neck had bruise marks suggesting that attempts were made to strangle her. Her blood pressure was way below normal.” The police said there were efforts to even slit her throat.The accused has been identified as one Manoj, 22. Late at night, the police arrested the accused from Muzaffarpur in Bihar.The accused had rented the ground floor of the house where the victim stayed just eight days ago. He had probably lured the child into the room on the evening of April 14 when she went missing. After brutalizing her and leaving her locked up, he escaped sometime on April 15 even as her family was looking for her desperately. On the morning of April 17, the mother and their neighbours heard someone crying in the room and called the cops, only to find their child. The accused has a previous case of trespassing registered against him and he was yet to be verified.An attempt to murder case has been slapped on him, along with sections on wrongful confinement, procuring women for sexual matters, rape and the stringent POCSO Act that is meant for the protection of children.By late evening, DCP (East) Prabhakar confirmed that both the SHO of Gandhi Nagar police station, Dharampal Singh, and the first investigating officer of the case, Mahavir Singh, had been suspended and would be facing a vigilance inquiry. “The allegations of police inaction and bribery will be covered by the same inquiry. The home ministry too has evaluated the entire investigation process,’’ he said.Earlier in the day, the Union home ministry sought a report from Delhi Police on the incident even as the home minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde , was asked to attend an emergency meeting at 7 RCR. Home secretary R K Singh had set the tone by announcing that he had spoken to police commissioner Neeraj Kumar and that “strict action must be taken against policemen concerned if any dereliction of duty is established.’’Anger against Delhi Police mounted after the girl's father, a mason, said they failed to even register his complaint when his daughter went missing. Angry protesters - including neighbours and activists of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – had soon gathered at Swami Dayanand Hospital. They raised slogans against chief minister Sheila Dikshit and the police, demanding immediate arrest of the accused. Delhi’s health minister, A K Walia, and East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit were heckled by them when they visited the victim at the hospital.An assistant commissioner of police was suspended for slapping one of the protesters, a 17-year-old girl and a Class XII student, Beenu Rawat, who was enquiring about the condition of the victim at the hospital. ACP Bani Singh Ahlawat, posted in the Khajuri Khas area of east Delhi, was suspended for slapping and pushing her, said a senior police officer.Commissioner Neeraj Kumar said it was an unfortunate incident but an aberration. “Delhi Police is not known for such high-handedness and we have taken prompt and strict action by suspending the ACP,’’ he said. Beenu, a resident of east Delhi's Shahdara, was trying to enter the emergency ward of Swami Dayanand Hospital when a scuffle ensued.