Parents cremate victim’s remains in cops’ presence
The family received the remaining human tissue and feet of the minor girl from the hospital and came to the Old Nangal crematorium.
The charred remains of a nine-year-old Dalit girl, who was allegedly raped and killed by four men at a crematorium in Purani Nangal near Delhi Cantonment on August 1, were cremated on Wednesday by her parents amid tight security and a protest carried by a group demanding the death penalty for the suspects.
Deputy commissioner of police (south-west) Ingit Pratap Singh said the last rites were performed with “full willingness” of the girl’s parents, who were at the crematorium with 15-20 close acquaintances. After the rituals, police personnel accompanied the parents to their house as, officials said, they were apprehensive of action by a group of protesters opposed to the cremation. The DCP said there was no untoward incident.
Hours before the cremation on Wednesday, the four arrested men, including the 55-year-old priest of the crematorium, were taken to the spot by the crime branch team to recreate the sequence of events leading to the minor girl’s death.
The suspects — the priest and three other crematorium staff — were arrested and sent to jail on August 2.
The crime branch team secured their custody for three days on Monday to reinterrogate them and ascertain the facts pertaining to the girl’s death.
The suspects told police that the girl was electrocuted while fetching water from a water cooler installed at the crematorium. However, the hurried manner in which her body was cremated — purportedly without her parents’ consent or informing the police — raised suspicions about the circumstances of her death.
A board of three doctors conducted an autopsy on the charred remains of the girl on Tuesday, after which the remains were preserved at the mortuary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) hospital. Though the family initially refused to collect the remains and perform the last rites, they agreed on
NEW DELHI:
INGIT PRATAP SINGH,
DCP (south-west)
Wednesday after persuasion by the police, said a senior officer who did not want to be identified.
“The family received the remaining human tissue and feet of the minor girl from the hospital and came to the Purani Nangal crematorium, where they performed the cremation in presence of 15-20 of their known acquaintances,” DCP Singh said.
The DCP said 25-30 people, “who were part of a group holding protest in a nearby tent”, tried to intervene but the parents did not concede to their demand of stopping the cremation.
A local resident, Aarti, who has been protesting since day one, said: “We had no objection to the cremation. All we want is justice for the girl. That can be provided when the arrested men are given the death penalty.”
The girl, from a Dalit family, in Purani Nangal, was found dead by her parents in a local crematorium on August 1 night. The family alleges that the accused — the priest Radhey Shyam, and three other men working at the crematorium – Mohammad Salim (55), Laxmi Narayan (49), and Kuldeep (63) — raped her.
The incident took a political turn after a host of leaders, including the Congress’s Rahul Gandhi and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the protest site and met the girl’s parents and assured them of speedy justice. The BJP, however, accused the Opposition of politicking.