New Delhi/Mumbai:
A 23-year-old nurse who was attacked with acid over a month ago as she stepped off a train at Mumbai was cremated in Delhi this evening. Her family marched with her coffin, supported by members of Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Admi Party, to demand justice and a CBI investigation to track down the masked man who assaulted her.
Preeti Rathi died in a Mumbai hospital on Saturday of serious burns and infections. The suspect who attacked her has yet to be traced.
Preeti had travelled to Mumbai to start working as a nurse at an army hospital.
Her grieving and angry family had refused to accept her dead body from the JJ Hospital. Her relatives said they would not cremate her till the government commissioned the CBI to investigate the attack. Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil had assured them yesterday that he will speak to Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for the demand to be sanctioned.
The state government has said it will pay her family two lakhs as compensation. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today tweeted, "The acid attack on Preeti Rathi ....and her death... is very painful..... Unfortunately.... the culprit is still at large....Compensation of mere 2 lakh ...by Maharashtra Govt.... is grossly inadequate..... It is adding insult to the injury."