Delhi government on Wednesday announced a magesterial probe into the death of a nine-year-old Dalit girl following an alleged sexual assault and Rs 10 lakh compensation to her family while Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi visited the family at a protest site.
"Our girl cannot come back. The injustice done to the family is unfortunate and cannot be compensated, but the government will give Rs 10 lakh to them and order a magisterial inquiry into the matter,” Kejriwal told reporters after meeting the family.
When Kejriwal reached the area to meet the parents, protesters demanding justice for the victim mobbed raised slogans against him. Kejriwal said the government will appoint top lawyers to ensure the guilty are punished.
Rahul visited the family in the morning and pledged his support to them on the path to justice and "will not back down even an inch."
"I told them that Rahul Gandhi is standing with them till they get justice and will not back down even an inch," he told reporters after meeting the parents of the victim.
After the meeting he tweeted, "her parents' tears are saying only one thing - their daughter, the daughter of this country, deserves justice. And I am with them on this path to justice."
Separately, Congress demanded a fast-track probe into the incident and death penalty for the culprits. Congress' in-charge for Delhi Shaktisinh Gohil and Delhi president Anil Chaudhary demanded the setting up of an SC/ST Commission in Delhi to help prevent such incidents.
"We also demand that financial help be given to the family like that provided to other rape victims in Delhi in the past. We also demand that an SC/ST Commission be constituted in Delhi also, after reports of this family being held captive and pressure being exerted by the police on them," Gohil said.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused Rahul of using the case for "furthering" his political agenda. He said BJP had no issue with Rahul for calling for justice but what was condemnable was the Gandhi family's "selectivism" as they never tweeted or spoke a word in the cases of atrocities against Dalit girls in the Congress-ruled states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh.