Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday called for a massive overhaul in the security and safety of women in the country, in the wake of protests against the recent rape of a five-year-old girl in the national capital.

"The safety, security and status of women in our country is a matter of concern. We have to make vast improvements in this area. The gruesome assault on a little child reminds us of the need to work collectively to root out this sort of depravity," the Prime Minister said in the capital.

Admitting that the protests over the recent rape of the five- year-old girl exposed the need of showing concern and sensitivity while dealing with public anxiety, Singh said: "Our government has moved with speed in strengthening the law to be able to deal more effectively with offenses against women."

The Prime Minister's assurances came as doctors said the rape victim "is in stable condition after undergoing surgery".

"She is stable and is responding well to treatment. Her vital parameters are okay and she faces no threat to her life. She is alert and spoke to her parents and doctors," said D.K. Sharma, the medical superintendent of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where the girl is currently being treated.

The victim was abducted and raped by her 25-year-old neighbor on April 15, and then locked and left to die by the accused, who has been arrested by the police from the eastern state of Bihar after much hue and cry by the protesters.

The latest incident came just four months after a horrific and fatal gangrape of a 23-year-old medical student by six men on a moving bus in the Indian capital shocked the country, forcing the government to bring in a new law ensuring harsher punishment for sexual assaults on women.