Nine-year-old Unnao girl who was raped, strangled, cremated amid rage and grief

KANPUR: The body of the nine-year-old girl who died after being sexually assaulted in the fields of a village in Unnao while villagers were celebrating Holi, was cremated on Thursday afternoon amidst an outpouring of anger and grief by family members and locals, who demanded the severest punishment for the perpetrator.
On Thursday morning, the victim’s family refused to cremate her till chief minister Yogi Adityanath came and assured them of strict and swift action against the guilty.They also demanded compensation for girl’s parents. The child’s body was brought home from the mortuary late Wednesday.
The girl had died on Tuesday night at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital after excessive bleeding from her private parts. The girl had gone to attend the ‘phaag’ singing programme on Tuesday afternoon, when she was raped by an unidentified man.
Senior government officers, including district magistrate Ravindra Singh and superintendent of police Vikrant Veer visited the girl’s home in Bihar police station area to pacify the family.
The family agreed to perform the last rites after negotiations with the DM and senior police officials. The DM handed over a cheque of Rs 5 lakh as ex-gratia compensation to the kin. “We have assured support to the family and promised that the accused will be arrested soon,” he said. The autopsy report confirmed death due to excessive bleeding.
The last rites were performed at the girl’s ancestral farm, 300m off the village amid tight security. Leaders of Samajwadi Party, including MLC Sunil Sajan, were present.
The girl’s kin said the accused responsible for her death should either be hanged or ‘chased and gunned down’ like the Telangana case, where four rape accused were shot by Hyderabad Police.
Talking to TOI, ASP (North) Unnao Vinod Kumar Pandey said, “Four teams are working for an early breakthrough. We have picked up a few suspects for questioning to ascertain the identity of the perpetrator. An FIR under relevant Sections of IPC, including rape, murder and sections of Pocso Act has been registered.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)