Hang the culprits at earliest: Delhi CM Kejriwal on 9-year-old’s rape and murder

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he would meet the victim’s family on Wednesday and will do everything possible to help them in their fight for justice.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday demanded capital punishment for the accused persons in the alleged rape and murder of a nine-year-old girl near the Delhi Cantonment area.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that there is a need to improve the law and order situation in the national capital. (Photo by Keshav Singh/ Hindustan Times)

“The murder of a 9-year-old innocent in Delhi after the rape is very shameful. There is a need to improve law and order in Delhi. The culprits should be given capital punishment at the earliest,” he posted on Twitter in Hindi.

In the same post, Kejriwal mentioned that he would meet the family of the victim on Wednesday and that he will do “everything possible to help the family in this fight for justice.”

The nine-year-old was allegedly raped and killed by a priest and three male staffers of a crematorium, who then cremated her body without the consent of her parents or informing the police. The four men were held after the victim’s family complained of foul play, and staged protests alongside nearly 200 villagers from Sunday night till Monday evening. They demanded the arrested persons be charged with rape and murder, Hindustan Times had reported.

According to police, the girl lived with her parents at a rented house near the crematorium and had gone to fetch cold water from the water cooler installed at the premises around 5.30pm on Sunday. The priest and the three men summoned the girl’s mother to the crematorium after 30 minutes and told her that her daughter was electrocuted to death while having water from the cooler. They also showed the victim’s body to her mother.

“They showed her the burn marks on her daughter’s wrist and elbow, and said her lips had turned blue. The four men asked the girl’s mother to not inform the police about the death. They told her that the police will register a case and the body will be sent for an autopsy, during which doctors will remove her vital organs and sell them. The four then cremated the body,” said deputy commissioner of police (south-west) Ingit Pratap Singh Singh.

DCP Singh added that the men allegedly made the mother agree to their terms and claimed that it was better to cremate the body.

Delhi Police has lodged a case against the four men based on the mother’s statement, who claimed that her daughter was raped, murdered and cremated without their consent on Sunday.

DCP Singh further said that all the four men – identified as Radhey Shyam (55), the priest; and the three staff Salim, Laxmi Narayan and Kuldeep, were acquainted with the victim’s mother.