Congress MP gives notice in RS to discuss rape, murder of 9-year-old Delhi girl

Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil said there is an atmosphere of apprehension and fear in the area near Delhi Cantonment in southwest Delhi and the matter should be discussed.

Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil on Tuesday gave suspension of business notice in the Rajya Sabha to discuss the issue of the alleged rape and killing of a nine-year-old girl in Delhi. "Under Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha I hereby give notice of my intention to move a motion for suspension of business of the House today," Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil said in his notice.

Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil said the government should talk about the steps it is taking to bring justice to the girl's family. (File Photo)

Shaktisinh Gohil said there is an atmosphere of apprehension and fear in the area near Delhi Cantonment in southwest Delhi and the matter should be discussed, according to news agency ANI. The government should talk about the steps it is taking to bring justice to the girl's family, Shaktisinh Gohil added.

Police have arrested a priest and three male employees of a crematorium near Delhi Cantonment and booked them for murder, rape and criminal intimidation. They have also been booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and the SC/ST Act.

Police said the girl, who lived with her parents in a rented house in front of the crematorium, went to fetch water from the water cooler at the crematorium around 5.30pm on Sunday. The priest and the three men called the girl’s mother to the crematorium half an hour later and showed her the child’s body. They told her that the girl was electrocuted to death while drinking water from the cooler. The four men asked the girl’s mother to not inform the police about the death.

The suspects, police said, allegedly told the girl’s mother that her daughter was electrocuted to death, They also told the family they should not inform the police about her death. They said the police would register a case, send her body for an autopsy and that doctors will take out her vital organs and sell them after the procedure, officials said.

The police initially registered a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, wrongful confinement and destruction of evidence related to the offence along with common intention under the Indian Penal Code’s (IPC's) sections 304, 342, 201 and 34. After hundreds of villagers reached the crematorium on Sunday night and protested till Monday evening, the police converted the case into one of rape, murder and criminal intimidation.