Protests in India over allegations that a nine-year-old girl was raped and murdered

Anger has risen in India over allegations that a nine-year-old girl was raped and murdered by various men in New Delhi. Several protesters gathered outside the crematorium working with banners demanding justice for the perpetrators.

Local police chief Ingit Pratap Singh said all of them have been arrested though the prosecution has not yet laid charges. As he explained, the woman left home Sunday morning and headed in the direction of the well located near the crematorium. Half an hour later, a priest called her mother and explained that her daughter had been electrocuted.

He was able to see the woman’s body before it was cremated there without prior permission. The mother says she had injuries all over her body and that the priest and three other men threatened not to call the police.

Structural violence

Frequent victims of sexual violence
Be the lowest caste women in the Hindu order

“The cause of death is not clear,” Singh told a news conference. The condition of the body after cremation does not allow to determine whether the girl who did not disclose the name of the forensic expert was raped or the exact cause of death.

This has caused outrage as more than 21,000 women are raped every year in the country due to the severity of the case and the lack of conclusive evidence to convict the perpetrators. As daughters they belong to the lowest social class according to the prevailing caste system in the country.

In 2012, a 23-year-old girl was repeatedly raped and murdered on a bus in New Delhi, sparking protests across the country. Since then, the government has created a series of speedy courts for cases of violence against women, although the number of cases has not dropped significantly.

Various humanitarian organizations denounce the victims of rape as women of the lowest caste among Hindus in general, while the occupiers belong to the upper classes and use sexual violence as a means of repression.