India battered toddler taken off ventilator
A two-year-old battered toddler, admitted to hospital in Delhi in a case that has outraged India, has been taken off the ventilator, doctors say.
Neurosurgeon Deepak Agarwal said the baby's condition was still critical but that she was improving and doctors were not as pessimistic as before.
She was admitted to hospital with serious injuries, including human bite marks all over her body.
Police have arrested two men and two women in connection with the case.
The toddler is being constantly monitored by a team of doctors who say they have never seen such cruelty inflicted on a baby.
'Fallen from bed'
"The infection in her chest is improving, but infections in her blood and brain remain. She is still critical, but we are not as pessimistic as we were earlier," Dr Agarwal told the BBC on Friday morning.
"The medication is taking effect. If her condition stabilises, another surgery will be performed on her next week," he said.
The toddler has undergone two surgeries so far.
She was brought to hospital on 18 January with broken arms and a partially smashed head by a teenager. She said she was the mother and that the toddler had fallen from her bed.
Police say their interrogation revealed that the teenager had been abandoned by her father and abused by a couple who pressed her into prostitution.
The teenager's father is among those arrested.