The police have filed a case of rape, murder against the accused (Representational)
The Delhi Police told a city court that no evidence could be collected so far to ascertain whether the nine-year-old girl was raped before allegedly being killed near the Delhi Cantonment in southwest Delhi earlier this month.
The 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 55-year-old priest of the crematorium, and the crematorium's employee Kuldeep Singh - had raped and killed the girl.
The other accused - Salim Ahmad and Laxmi Narayan, both employees at the crematorium - had helped them in trying to cremate the girl, the IO told the court.
"The 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 child was raped or not. He has further submitted that at this stage, he cannot conclusively say as to whether the child was raped or not," the court noted in the order passed on August 12.
The disclosure statements of the accused persons before the police, unless supported by other evidence, are not admissible under law.
Special Judge Ashutosh Kumar, meanwhile, awarded Rs 2.5 lakh as "interim relief" to the mother of the child who has died.
The court, however, did not grant further interim relief on the additional ground of the alleged rape of the girl, in view of the submissions of the IO and "in 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 stage."
The 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 child was raped.
As per the government scheme, the maximum compensation awardable in case of loss of life is Rs 10 lakh. The court granted 25 percent of the compensation amount as interim relief.
The court, meanwhile, sent the four accused, who were all known to the girl's mother, to 14-day judicial custody.
According to the FIR, the girl was raped, murdered, and then cremated without her parents' consent.
The case was recently transferred to the Delhi Police's crime branch.
The Delhi Police has registered a case against the four accused on the basis of the statement of the girl's mother, who alleged that her daughter was raped, murdered, and cremated without the family's consent on August 1.
The accused have been charged under relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code for "murder", "rape" and "criminal intimidation", along with the relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST Act.