Delhi: Kin allege 9-year-old raped, cremated without their nod

NEW DELHI: Mystery surrounds the death of a nine-year-old girl at a crematorium in south-west Delhi’s Nangal village on Sunday night. After the final rites, the family of the girl alleged that she had been sexually assaulted and murdered. They also carried out a protest against police on Monday.
Police filed an FIR, initially for death due to negligence and destruction of evidence and arrested Radheshyam, the caretaker-cum-priest of the crematorium, plus three other men, Saleem, Kuldeep and Laxmi Narayan.
Later, the cops added murder, sexual assault and criminal intimidation to the charges apart from invoking the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the SC/ST Act. These were added after the statement of the girl's mother alleging murder and the intervention of the SC/ST committee. A medical examination could not be conducted as the body had already been cremated.
The girl was the daughter of ragpickers and lived in a rented room opposite the crematorium. According to police, she went to get water from the crematorium around 5.30pm after informing her mother. Around 6pm, Radheshyam and the three men, all known to the mother, called her to the crematorium and showed them her daughter’s body, claiming she was electrocuted when having water from the water cooler. There were burn marks between the wrist and elbow of the left arm and the girl’s lips had turned blue, police cited the mother as having disclosed.
Ingit Pratap Singh, DCP (Southwest) quoted the mother as saying that the priest and the other accused had advised her not to inform the cops because there would be a case and a post-mortem, during which the doctors would take away her daughter’s organs.
However, a crowd gathered at the spot and police were informed. After the four men were taken into custody, the forensic and crime teams were called to comb the death spot.
On Monday afternoon, local residents and members of Safai Karamchari Union blocked the road from Delhi Cantonment to Janakpuri in protest and raised slogans against the cops. They demanded a proper investigation of the death and ensure justice to the family.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)