Delhi Cantt Rape case: Fresh plea filed before HC seeking court-monitored SIT probe

On Monday, a fresh petition was filed before the Delhi High Court seeking a court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into a nine-year-old Dalit girl's alleged rape and murder in Delhi Cantt. The plea also seeks a judicial inquiry into the alleged lapses in administrative action, including the alleged delay in filing FIR in the case. 

On August 1, a nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped and killed by a priest and three employees of a crematorium near Delhi Cantonment in southwest Delhi, the police had said. A case was registered against four accused based on the statement by the child's mother, who alleged that her daughter was raped, murdered, and cremated without their consent.

The accused persons have been booked under Sections 302, 376, and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, along with the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST Act. 

Delhi Cantt rape case

Last week, Delhi Police Investigating Officer informed a POCSO court that the disclosure statements of the four accused have revealed that Radhey Shyam and Kuldeep Singh had raped and killed the victim and while the remaining two accused, Salim Ahmad and Laxmi Naryan, helped them in trying to cremate the deceased minor child. 

The IO further admitted that neither any statement of any eye-witness nor any other evidence, including medical or scientific, has been collected to confirm that the victim was raped. He also submitted that at this stage, he could not conclusively say whether the child was raped. After hearing detailed arguments, the court directed that an interim compensation of Rs. 2.5 lakh was awarded to the family of the victim. Special POCSO judge Ashutosh Kumar has now sent the four accused persons to judicial custody. 

Image Credit: PTI/Representative