A nine-year-old dalit girl died under suspicious circumstances, even as her parents alleged that she was raped and forcefully cremated by a crematorium's priest in southwest Delhi's Old Nangal village, police said on Monday. The news has caused a lot of uproar on social media with people across India demanding justice for the little girl.
Four people, including the priest, have been arrested, they said.
Only the burnt legs of the girl were recovered from the crematorium ground and the post-mortem report is awaited.
The girl lived with her parents in the village in a rented house in front of a crematorium. On Sunday around 5.30 pm, she went to get cold water from a cooler at the crematorium after informing her mother, they said.
Around 6 pm, the crematorium's priest, Radhey Shyam, and two-three other people, known to the girl's mother, called her there and showed her daughter's body claiming that she got electrocuted while getting water from the cooler.
The priest and the others dissuaded her mother from making a PCR call, saying police will make a case out of it and during the post-mortem, doctors will steal the girl's organs, so it was better to cremate her, the officer said.
The girl was cremated but later the woman with her husband raised a hue and cry that it was done without their consent. A crowd of 200 villagers gathered there and a PCR call was made from the spot, police said.
The PCR call was received, following which a team rushed to the spot, they said.
The statement of the complainant has been recorded under section 164 of the CrPC, SC/ST Act and POCSO Act, they said.
IPC Sections 302 (murder), 376 (punishment for rape) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) have been added in the FIR following the mother's statement, they said.
The news sent shock waves across India leaving citizens baffled and enraged. #JusticeForDelhiCanttGirl has been trending on Twitter non-stop with some citizens even calling it 'another Hathras case'.
Here's what people are saying. Have a look.
With inputs from PTI.
