By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
On the night of December 8, 2017, a 5-year-old Dalit girl was abducted from her home, raped, murdered and her body was left on the street. Her family lives in a tent in a Dalit slum. The tent stands on two sticks of bamboo with a roof made of wood covered by plastic. There are no walls or doors in the tent, leaving them vulnerable to intruders. On the night of December 8, her father, a daily wage labourer whose job is to collect trash, was out of town. The child was sleeping with her 7-year-old sister, 2-year-old brother, and their mother when she was abducted. On the morning of December 9, the abducted girl’s elder sister notified their mother that her sister was not inside the home. Panicked, the mother began crying and screaming and soon, the neighbours in the slum became aware that the child had gone missing. Soon after, someone from the village notified the family that about 400 meters away, in the main section of the village, there was a young girl’s dead body there. The body was later identified as the missing child. She was found with blood on her body. The family and community immediately gathered in mourning and outrage.
The community notified the police. After the police came, the child’s body was sent for autopsy. During this time hundreds of people from the village gathered to protest this brutal crime. The autopsy report stated that the cause of death was from wooden sticks being inserted into the child’s vagina, the 24-inch stick pierced through her uterus and large intestines. There were also other wounds on her body. Upon hearing this report, the anger of the Dalit community only increased further. The family refused to bury her body and they stayed up through the night in protest.
This incident drew the attention of politicians and media. Politicians came and in an attempt to quell the protest and attention, they pledged to give Rs 10 lakh rupees to the family to bury the child. The family agreed to bury the body; however, no money has been received by the family. An FIR report was obtained 1-2 days later. The police have been avoiding making any comments and are stating that they are investigating.
During the police investigations, they have been trying to incriminate the Dalit community. The police arrested 2 Dalit men but released them. The next day, the police arrested 4 of the dead girl’s family members. This all despite the fact that her body was found in an upper caste area. Expectedly, no one from that area has been investigated.
This is typical of the way the government investigates these crimes against Dalit and Adivasi families. In an effort to silence any protests they offer money that they never make due on, conduct false investigations in an attempt to shut down any protests against crimes committed by upper caste people.
Currently, the family and community are demanding that proper homes be built for the residents living in the slums, that they are paid the 10 lakh rupees and justice for the child with an appropriate investigation into the murder. These incidents are not uncommon in Haryana where Dalit families are targeted and upper-caste men commit such crimes with impunity.