Rahul Gandhi was implying that the ravaged child needed as much focus as the Olympians.
Top political leaders today expressed anguish over the alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old Dalit girl in the Delhi Cantonment area on Sunday. While Congress leader Rahul Gandhi referred to her as the "nation's daughter", Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he will be meeting the child's mourning family tomorrow.
"Dalit's child is also the nation's daughter," Mr Gandhi tweeted in Hindi along with the screen shot of a news report of the incident. His comment comes amid several Indian sportswomen earning heaps of praise for their performance in the ongoing Tokyo Olympics. Shuttler PV Sindhu and the entire Indian women's hockey team, besides others, have often been referred to as "the country's daughters" by many following their stellar display.
The Delhi Chief Minister, meanwhile, pledged help to seek justice for the nine-year-old.
"The murder of the 9-year-old in Delhi after being ravaged was extremely shameful. There is a need to strengthen law and order in the city. The accused must get the death sentence as soon as possible," Mr Kejriwal tweeted today.
"I'll be meeting the victim's family tomorrow. We'll help them in all ways in their battle for justice."
The child, from an economically backward family, lived with her parents in Purana Nangal in the Delhi Cantonment area, close to a crematorium. She had gone to the crematorium on the evening of August 1 to fetch drinking water from the cooler, but never returned.
Around 6 pm, some locals who knew the priest in the cremation ground informed the child's mother about her death and showed her the body. They said she was electrocuted.
The priest and his companions then asked the family not to inform the police since that would lead to a post-mortem, where the child's organs will be stolen. They convinced the family into cremating the child's body and locals even speculate that they were even paid off.
Later, however, the family raised an alarm and around 200 people from the locality gathered at the crematorium and the police was informed.
