Her parents say she was cremated without their consent; police were also not informed
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Four people including a priest have been arrested in Delhi on charges of raping and killing a nine-year-old Dalit girl. Three of the arrested people are male employees of a crematorium near Delhi Cantonment in south-west Delhi, says a report published in Hindustan Times.
The accused persons are also alleged to have cremated the body without her parents’ consent or the police being informed. Police said the four men were arrested after the child’s family alleged foul play and staged a protest along with fellow villagers on Sunday night.
The newspaper, quoting police, said the family expressed suspicions that the girl may have been sexually assaulted and murdered, given how her body was cremated in a hurry.
According to the police, the suspects allegedly told the girl’s mother that the child was electrocuted to death, and also frightened the family off from informing the police by telling them that the police would register a case and send the body for an autopsy, where doctors will take out her vital organs and sell them.
The four men were booked for murder, rape and criminal intimidation, a case regarding which was registered under Indian Penal Code’s sections 302, 376 and 506, in addition to relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST Act.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (south-west) Ingit Pratap Singh has identified the four accused as Laxmi Narayan, Kuldeep, Salim and Radhey Shyam, the 55-year-old priest of the crematorium. They are all known to the girl’s mother, said the DCP.
Police said the girl, who lived with her parents in a rented house in front of the crematorium, went to fetch cold water from the water cooler installed at the crematorium around 5.30pm on Sunday. Half an hour later, the priest and the three men called the girl’s mother to the crematorium and showed her the child’s body.
“They told her that the girl was electrocuted to death while having water from the cooler,” said DCP Singh.
According to a neighbour, the residents came to know about the matter when the girl’s parents raised the alarm and told them that their daughter’s body was cremated without their consent.
Nearly 200 villagers reached the crematorium on Sunday night and carried out a protest till Monday evening, demanding that the arrested persons be booked on rape and murder charges.
Initially, the police registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, wrongful confinement, and destruction of evidence related to the offence along with common intention under Indian Penal Code’s sections 304, 342, 201 and 34. However, following the protest and the circumstantial evidence, the case was converted into one of rape, murder and criminal intimidation, said a senior police officer, who asked not to be named.
Delhi social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam visited the protest site and assured to “provide the necessary support to the victim’s family”. In a tweet, the Aam Aadmi Party said, “Police should conduct fair investigation. If not then Delhi government will carry out a magisterial enquiry.”
Bhim Army chief, Chandrashekar Azad also met the family of the victim and has been demanding the death penalty for the perpetrators of the crime.
Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar also condemned the incident and said his party will not allow Delhi “to turn into another Hathras”, referring to the cremation by police of a Dalit woman who was allegedly gang raped and murdered in UP’s Hathras.
