Protests grow after torture and rape of New Delhi 5-year-old

NEW DELHI // Crowds demonstrated in India's capital yesterday after a five-year-old girl was allegedly raped, tortured and kept in captivity for 40 hours.

Police arrested a man they accuse of the attack from the eastern state of Bihar, and brought him back to New Delhi for interrogation. Doctors say the girl suffered severe injuries and bruising, including to her neck and genitalia.

The attack revived memories of last December's gang rape of a 23-year-old student, whose ensuing death shook the country.

Protests after the rape of the child that began on Friday grew more intense after video footage showed a policeman slapping a woman protester, and following reports that investigators had offered the victim's family 2,000 rupees (Dh135) not to file a case.

It was the second case of alleged rape in 48 hours to trigger protests and heavy-handed policing, after hundreds of people fought police in the city of Aligarh on Thursday. One policeman was filmed hitting an old woman hard with a club in the protest.

Yesterday, about 1,000 people gathered to demonstrate outside the police headquarters in New Delhi, where several people tried to break through metal barricades. Smaller protests erupted outside the state-run hospital where the girl was being treated, the home of ruling Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, and the residence of the country's interior minister.

The girl was "conscious and alert" and her condition stable, but her injuries are infected and so severe she may need corrective surgery, an official of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences hospital told reporters.

Police identified the accused as a 22-year-old, who they said had fled the capital after leaving the girl for dead in an apartment of the same building where her family lives.

The accused was a temporary worker in garment factories and lived with his father, a juice seller, police said. There were reports that some people tried to attack the man and others threw shoes at him as police led him through Patna airport in Bihar state to board a plane back to New Delhi.

Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat declined to comment on reports that the girl's family had been offered money not to file a case, adding he would only do so after an investigation.

Sushil Kumar Shinde, the interior minister, said the government was conducting an inquiry into allegations of police negligence.

The girl, whose parents work as labourers and live in a slum in the outskirts of Delhi, went missing from her home on April 15, according to Manish Sisodia, an official of the Aam Aadmi Party, which organised a protest on Friday. Local media said she was found by neighbours who heard her crying two days later.

BN Bansal, a doctor from the Swami Dayanand Hospital, where the girl was initially admitted, said on Friday that she had undergone an operation.

"We found candles and an oil bottle from inside the child when we operated upon her," Dr Bansal said. "The next 48 hours will be crucial for her."

Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, said he was deeply disturbed by the incident. In December, his administration had faced criticism for failing to respond quickly to the horrific attack on the student.

Unprecedented protests by thousands of people across India after the December gang rape eventually forced Mr Singh's government to pass tougher laws to fight gender crimes in March.

New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures.

However, most sex crimes in India go unreported, many offenders go unpunished, and the wheels of justice turn slowly, according to social activists who say successive governments have done little to ensure the safety of women and children.

* Reuters

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”