No evidence to confirm if 9-year-old girl raped before being killed: Police

Delhi Police has told a court here that no evidence could be collected so far to confirm whether the nineyearold girl was raped before allegedly being killed near Delhi Cantonment in southwest Delhi earlier this monthThe investigating officer IO of the case told the court that the disclosure statements of the four accused have revealed that two of them Radhey Shyam the 55yearold priest of the crematorium and its employee Kuldeep Singh had raped and killed the minor victimThe remaining accused persons Salim Ahmad and Laxmi Narayan both employees at the crematorium had helped them in trying to cremate the deceased minor the IO told the courtldquoThe IO has further admitted that neither any statement of any eye witness nor any other evidence including medical or scientific could be collected so far to confirm as to whether the victim child was raped or not He has further submitted that at this stage he cannot conclusively say as to whether the victim child was raped or notrdquo the court noted in the order passed on August 12Disclosure statements of the accused persons before police unless supported by other evidence is not admissible under lawSpecial Judge Ashutosh Kumar meanwhile awarded Rs 25 lakh as ldquointerim reliefrdquo to the mother of the child for the loss of her daughters lifeThe court however did not grant further interim relief on the additional ground of the alleged rape of the victim in view of the submissions of the IO and ldquoin view of the fact that the investigating agency itself is not sure as to whether the victim was raped or not the interim compensation qua the same is not allowed at this stagerdquoThe judge granted the liberty to the parties concerned to move a fresh application regarding compensation for rape in case the investigating agency collects further material or comes to the conclusion that the victim child was rapedA per the government scheme the maximum compensation awardable in case of loss of life is Rs 10 lakh The court granted 25 per cent of the compensation amount as interim reliefThe court meanwhile sent the four accused who were all known to the girls mother to 14day judicial custodyAccording to the FIR the minor girl was raped murdered and then cremated without her parents consentThe case was recently transferred to the crime branch of Delhi PoliceDelhi Police registered a case against the four accused on the basis of the statement of the minors mother who alleged that her daughter was raped murdered and cremated without familys consent on August 1The accused have been booked under Sections 302 murder 376 rape and 506 criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code along with the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences POCSO Act and the SCST ActThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever