Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Saturday promised action against policemen who are found to be guilty of trying to hush up the rape case of a five-year-old girl by allegedly offering money to her parents.

An enquiry is going on to find out if there was any lapse on the part of police. We will take action against the policemen who are found to be guilty. We are waiting for the report. Give us some time, we will take action,” he told reporters.

Shinde’s statement came in the wake of protests in the national capital against the rape and demand for action against policemen who allegedly tried to hush up the case by offering money to the parents of the victim.

The Home Minister said the accused in the rape case has been arrested in Bihar and he is being brought to Delhi.

Terming the incident as very serious, he said everyone has to be alert to check such crime.

He said he was not fully aware of the present condition of the victim, who is undergoing treatment at AIIMS.

The girl was brutally raped and assaulted allegedly by her neighbour while being held captive and starved for two days. She also contracted infection from foreign objects inserted in her body.

Condemning the brutal rape of the five-year old girl in the city and mishandling of the case by police, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath on Saturday said there is a need to sensitise policemen in dealing with such cases.

“I had met the Delhi Police Commissioner some days back and had asked him to sensitise police officers while dealing with such cases. The behaviour of the police officers dealing with such sensitive matters needs to be a crucial part of their training,” the Minister said in a statement.

Expressing anguish over the rape of a five-year-old girl in Delhi, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj has demanded that the new anti-rape law be made more stringent and provide for death penalty in cases of rape of children and those involving brutality and barbarity.

“Nothing short of death sentence in cases of rape of children and cases involving brutality and barbarity will help,” Swaraj said.

The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha also asked Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde to convene a meeting of representatives of all political parties to provide for death sentence to perpetrators of such brutal crimes.

“Home Minister should convene a meeting of representatives of all political parties to provide for death sentence in cases of rape of children and cases involving brutality and barbarity as in the present case,” she said, adding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should also be present at that meeting.

Swaraj said the new anti-rape law should include two more provisions for providing death penalty to those who rape children and those who commit heinous and brutal crimes.

The BJP leader said these “perverts and sadists” require shock treatment. “We need to make the recent law more stringent,” she said.

The BJP leader felt there was no let up in rape cases after the December rape incident that shook the national capital.

“I had thought that barbarity in Damini case was an aberration. Delhi child rape case has shown that perversity and sadism is common to these criminals,” Swaraj said on Twitter.

She also said that the legal machinery should be made more effective so that such cases should not be dragged for years.