Relatives of victim crying after the house of a dalit was set on fire. (Press Trust of India Photo)
After a day of heartbreak, protests and politics, the family of the two Dalit children who were burnt alive at a Haryana village, near Delhi, have cremated them. The Haryana government, under attack from the opposition, has now asked for a Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI probe into the deaths.
Here are the latest developments:
Angry locals, who had said they will not cremate the children till justice was done, had blocked a national highway since morning. In the afternoon, they marched towards the Delhi-Agra highway carrying the bodies of the children.
Police said the protesters agreed to remove the barricades after they managed to convince the family to go ahead with the cremation.
A few villagers, however, claimed the police used force to break the protest.
Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi who visited the Sonped village around noon, said, "This is an attitude shared by the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister, the BJP and the RSS - if somebody is weak, they can be crushed. This government is not for the poor."
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who was expected to meet the family as well, put off the visit as the protests intensified. Haryana is governed by the BJP, which also leads the ruling coalition at the Centre.
The children-- two-and-a-half year old Vaibhav and 11-month-old Divya - had died after their house was set on fire, allegedly by members of an upper caste community.
Their mother Rekha, 28, is fighting for life with 70 per cent burns. Their father has sustained injuries too.
The family has alleged that the attack was the fallout of a long-standing feud with a group of upper caste people in the village.
The police, who were aware of the situation, had provided security to the Dalits for a year. Eight policemen - part of the team deployed for their security - have been suspended.
Eleven people, including a father-son duo, have been booked in the case, but only four arrests have been made so far. The rest are absconding.
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