Moga case sparks protest, girl’s family refuses to cremate her

The relatives of the girl, who got killed after being molested and shoved off a moving bus owned by Punjab’s ruling Badal family, have refused to perform her last rites, two days after the incident, rejecting government compensation and demanding action against the owners of the vehicle.

The incident has provoked public outrage with opposition Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, besides farmers and rights groups taking to streets in Punjab and Delhi.

All attempts by the state authorities to persuade the bereaved family to cremate her proved futile when it rejected a compensation of Rs 20 lakh, a government job for her mother, who too was molested and pushed out of the bus, her free treatment and holding trial of the case in a fast track court.

The family is insisting that the owners of the bus, Orbit Aviation, be booked in connection with the offence and its road permits be cancelled, a demand vociferously supported by AAP.

A team of civil and police officials including DIG A S Chahal, SSP JS Khehra and Deputy Commissioner Parminder Singh Gill tried to convince the family of the deceased but in vain. 

Earlier in the day, Congress and AAP joined the agitating family and activists staging a protest in front of the Moga civil hospital where the injured mother of the deceased is undergoing treatment. The body of the girl is also lying in the mortuary there.

Though TV channels showed a letter purported to be carrying the thumb impression of the deceased’s father endorsing the action taken by the police so far, the family was not ready to perform the last rites till the time the owners of the bus were booked. Sukhdev Singh later told TV channels he had put the thumb impression without being explained the contents of the document.

Congress and AAP staged demonstrations at Baghapurana near Moga against the incident and against the alleged gangrape of another woman in the district that came to light Thursday night. AAP MP Bhagwant Mann staged a protest outside the office of Baghapurana DSP with around 500 party members.