*NEW DELHI – Protests erupted in southern India over the rape of anine-year-old girl, as anger over the failure of police to stem a series ofsex attacks on children boiled over.*
Reported rape cases in India have climbed steadily over recent years toaround 40,000 in 2016, or about 100 a day, with many more believed to gounreported. Child rape accounts for about 40 percent of the reported cases.
A mob blocked highways on Thursday and sat on railway tracks near Guntur,in the state of Andhra Pradesh, demanding public punishment for a rickshawpuller accused of the attack.
The crowd attacked the accused’s house and thrashed his son, media said.
On Friday, the accused, said to be around 55, was found hanging in a woodand police said he had likely committed suicide.
Several cases of sexual assault of children have come to light in recentweeks from different parts of the country, leading to an outpouring ofanger.
The government introduced the death penalty for the rape of girls youngerthan 12 last month after a particularly gruesome case of rape and murder ofa Muslim girl in Jammu and Kashmir state.
Police superintendent Venkata Appala Naidu said the girl who had beenassaulted in Guntur was recovering in hospital.
Registered cases of sexual violence have been rising despite the nationaloutrage that followed the fatal gang rape of a student on a bus in NewDelhi in 2012.