Puja in Uttarakhand suspended as a mark of protest over recent gang rape and death of 11-year-old girl. (Representational Image)
Irate over the police not having arrested four persons accused in setting a 14-year-old on fire in Meerut’s Sardhana town three days ago, Rajput activists protested at the tehsil headquarters on Monday.
The girl was admitted to hospital after the incident with 60 per cent burn injuries. Local BJP MLA Sangeet Som and party MP Sanjeev Baliyan visited the girl at the hospital and assured her family that she would eb taken to New Delhi for better treatment.
Police said the girl was stalked by local youths for the last several days when she was on her way for tuition. On August 17, a person named Rajvansh Bagdi, 22, allegedly gave her a mobile phone saying that he would call her at around midnight. The girl, who had by then stopped going for her tuition classes, told her father about the phone. When Rajvansh allegedly called to the phone, the girl’s father told him to stop the harassment.
The next day, the girl’s father allegedly spoke to Rajvansh’s family and asked them to look into the matter, said police. As per the FIR lodged with Sardhana police by the girl’s grandfather, when the father had gone to meet Rajvansh’s family, four men barged into the house.”They poured kerosene on her and set her afire. Before fleeing, the intruders warned us of dire consequences if we went to the police,” said the grandfather.
Six persons were named in the FIR. Rajvansh Bagdi and his father Devendra were arrested, while 21-year-old Rohit Saini and his father Gajraj, 24-year-old Aman and 21-year-old Deepak are absconding. “We have put several teams on the job to arrest the culprits soon and we have got definite inputs about their possible hideouts,” said Dileep Singh, in-charge of Sardhana police station.
“The police has been found lacking in its approach. We will launch an intense agitation if all culprits are not arrested soon. They should not only be arrested but hanged for their inhuman act,” said Ajay Som, chief of Rajput Uthan Sabha that protested on Monday.
“I have asked the police station in-charge to take quick action. Our government is committed to ensure total safety of girls and women and we will take all possible measures to ensure speedy justice to the family. We will ensure that the victim should get the best medical treatment,” Sangeet Som told The Indian Express over telephone.