India orders judicial inquiry into rape, murder of 9-year-old girl
- Four men have been arrested after the girl was allegedly killed and cremated on Sunday, in an incident which sparked days of protests
- The safety of women and girls has been a major political issue in India since the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a student on a bus in Delhi
Police have alleged that the girl was killed after she had gone to fetch water from a crematorium near her house in the city’s Cantonment area on Sunday. Her family told media the perpetrators cremated her body against their wishes.
Four men have been arrested in connection with the girl’s murder said Ingit Pratap Singh, the top police officer in the south west of the capital where the alleged crime took place.
The four face charges of rape, murder and criminal intimidation, he said. They were not available for comment and Reuters was not able to determine if they had engaged lawyers.
Hundreds of people have protested since the incident, blocking roads and calling for accountability for the death.
Arvind Kejriwal, the head of Delhi’s provincial government who also leads an opposition party, ordered a judicial review of the case.