Melted candles are seen next to a placard at a demonstration site outside a crematorium, where a 9-year-old girl, one of the lowest rung of India’s caste system, according to her parents and protesters, earlier this week He was raped and murdered in Delhi. .
Delhi Police told a court here that no evidence is yet to be gathered to confirm whether the 9-year-old girl was raped before she was allegedly killed in south-west Delhi earlier this month. have been able.
The investigating officer (IO) of the case told the court that the disclosure of the four accused revealed that two of them – 55-year-old priest Radhe Shyam of the cremation ground and his employee Kuldeep Singh – had committed rape. and murdered the minor victim.
The IO told the court that the remaining accused persons – Salim Ahmed and Laxmi Narayan, both employees of the crematorium, had helped them in performing the cremation of the deceased minor.
“The IO has further admitted that neither the statement of any eyewitness nor any other evidence including medical or scientific can be collected to confirm whether the victim child was raped or not. He has further stated that at this stage, he cannot conclusively say whether the victim girl was raped or not,” the court said in the order passed on August 12.
Disclosure statements of accused persons before the police, unless supported by other evidence, are not admissible under law. Meanwhile, Special Judge Ashutosh Kumar awarded 2.5 (RPT) Rs 2.5 lakh as “interim relief” to the child’s mother for the loss of her daughter’s life.
The court, however, on the additional grounds of the alleged rape of the victim in view of the submissions of the investigating officer and “keeping in view the fact that the investigating agency itself is not sure whether further interim relief has been granted. Whether the victim was raped or not”. , Interim compensation is not allowed at this stage.
The judge gave liberty to the parties concerned to move a fresh application regarding compensation for rape, if the investigating agency collects further material or comes to a conclusion that the victim child was raped. As per a government scheme, the maximum compensation in case of loss of life is Rs 10 lakh. The court allowed 25 per cent of the compensation amount as interim relief.
Meanwhile, the court sent the four accused, who were all known to the girl’s mother, to 14-day judicial custody. According to the FIR, the minor girl was raped, murdered and then cremated without the consent of her parents.
The case was recently transferred to the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. The Delhi Police registered a case against the four accused based on the statement of the minor’s mother, who had alleged that her daughter was raped, murdered and cremated without the consent of the family on August 1.
A case has been registered against the accused under sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code as well as the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act and relevant sections of the SC/ST Is. Work.
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