In a shocking incident, a nine-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly raped and murdered and her body forcibly cremated by a priest named Pandit Radhey Shyam and his companions in the capital city, New Delhi.
The police have detained the priest in the case along with three others and investigations are on, said the Delhi police.
According to NDTV, the Dalit girl’s family lived with her parents in Purana Nangal in the Delhi Cantonment area, close to the crematorium. She had gone to the crematorium last evening to fetch drinking water from the cooler but never returned, reports say.
On Sunday, around 6 pm, some locals who knew the cremation ground priest Radheshyam, called her mother to the crematorium and showed her the body. The locals said she got electrocuted while drinking water from cooler.
“There were burn marks on the child’s wrist and elbow. Her lips were also blue,” her mother Sunita Devi said.
The priest and 2 persons told Sunita Devi that if she makes a PCR call then the police will make a case out of it and in post mortem doctors will steal all organs of the girl and so it’s better to cremate her. The girl was forcibly cremated.
Following the forcible cremation, Mohan Lal and Sunita Devi, the parents of the Dalit girl raised an alarm.
The locals held a protest in the area demanding justice. Around 200 villagers of the old Nangal village gathered at the crematorium and the police were informed.
An FIR is registered on basis of her mother’s statement. FSL and crime team collected samples for the investigation, said the Delhi police.
“Last night at around 10:20 pm a PCR call was received at police station Delhi Cantt regarding rape and death of a minor girl and her being cremated and that around 200 villagers of old Nangal have gathered at the crematorium of old Nangal,” ANI news agency quoted DCP south-west Ingit Pratap Singh as saying.
“Immediately local police rushed to the spot, the situation was brought under control, Sunita Devi gave her statement and the case has been registered under relevant sections of law. The priest was taken into custody. FSL team and crime team were called to collect samples/evidence from the spot. The investigation is underway,” DCP adds.
