India rape documentary: Ahmedabad security guard arrested after alleged brutal sexual assault on six-year-old girl

Latest in string of claimed sexual attacks on women and girls in India

Women protest the Delhi gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student (BBC)

Amid the fallout of a harrowing documentary into the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student in Delhi, a new case bearing shocking similarities has emerged involving a six-year-old girl in the west of India.

According to local media reports, a 25-year-old man in the Sola district of Ahmedabad has been arrested on suspicion of abducting a young girl, beating and sexually assaulting her with a 4-ft iron rod and then discarding her to run home to her family.

The girl’s father complained to Sola police, who told the Times of India they had recovered a rod allegedly used in the attack and registered a complaint of rape.

Police inspector BV Gohil named the arrested suspect as Kaushal Chauhan, who “maintains he had altercations with the family earlier and that they may have decided to get even”.

The brutal assault allegations come as India debates what a string of recent attacks on women say about the “male mind-set” of the nation.

On Sunday night, BBC Four is set to broadcast for a second time the controversial documentary about the Delhi gang-rape that has been banned in India itself.

India’s Daughter includes an interview with one of the men convicted of abducting, raping and assaulting with an iron bar an aspiring physiotherapist on 16 December 2012.

Criticising the Indian government’s attempts to suppress the film from being shown to both domestic and international audiences, opposition politician Priya Dutt said: “I am very shocked at the decision to ban the video. Rapes happen every single day and this has to be exposed. The documentary didn't defend the rape. In fact it showed the mindset of the rapist.”