AGENCIES / NEW DELHI
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today visited the family of the 9-year-old Dalit girl who was allegedly raped, killed and forcibly cremated on Sunday.
“I spoke with the family, they want justice & nothing else. They’re saying that justice is not being given to them & they should be helped. We will do that. I have said that I am standing with them. Rahul Gandhi is standing with them until they get justice,” Gandhi said.
“The tears of her mother and father say just one thing – their daughter, the country’s daughter, deserves justice. And I am with them in this path to justice,” Gandhi Tweeted after meeting the family. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is also expected to visit the family today.
Protests seeking justice for the victim continued in different parts of South West Delhi.
Radhey Shyam (55), a priest at the cremation ground, and three other employees – Kuldeep Kumar (63), Laxmi Narain (48) and Mohd Salim (49), were arrested on Monday.
On Sunday evening, the girl had gone to get water from a cooler at a crematorium near her house. Police said that around 30 minutes later, the priest, Radhey Shyam, and two-three other people known to the girl’s mother called her and showed her the girl’s body, claiming that was electrocuted while getting water.
On Sunday evening, the girl had gone to get water from a cooler at a crematorium near her house.
The girl’s parents claim Shyam coerced them to cremate her body, and the mother also alleged that she suspects her daughter was raped before being killed.
The woman alleged the men didn’t take her permission before lighting the pyre. “I was screaming and a few villagers saw and came to help me. We doused the fire but could only recover my daughter’s legs,” she said.
The girl’s body had been pulled off the funeral pyre midway through the cremation, and only charred remains could be recovered.