Hathras repeated? Domestic help's death: Delhi cops 'ignore, detain' victim's family

Family members of the victim

Counterview Desk

A fact-finding team of the All-India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch comprising of Utkarsha Tomar, Kusum Lata, Cand Asha, has alleged that the family of Neetu, a member of the Other Backward Caste (OBC), who was found dead on October 4 at a residence in Model Town, Delhi, was treated treated in the same way as the family of the Hathras gangrape victim.
Employed as a full-time domestic help for Rs 10,000 per month, the deceased victim’s aunt Kusum reached the residence in Model Town where Neetu was working to find her “lifeless body hanging with a dupatta with several burnt marks on her hands”, said an AIDMAM report, pointing out, in this case as well there was “ forced cremation of the victim”. Worse, the family members of the victims were detained for protesting in front of the house where she was found dead.

AIDMAM report:

With each passing day the atrocity towards women and children from Dalit and minority are on the rise. On October 4, a 17-year-old OBC girl, was found dead at her employer’s house at D10/3, Model Town, Delhi. All-India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch initiated a fact finding on October 19, 2020 comprising of team member Utkarsha Tomar, AIDMAM, Kusum Lata, coordinator, North-Delhi and Asha, coordinator, South Delhi, AIDMAM.
According to the findings of the team, the deceased girl Neetu (17) daughter of Nanhelal from Other Backward Caste (OBC) had been employed in the house of Drupati Bansal, resident of D10/3, Model town as a full-time domestic help for Rs.10,000 per month from September 26, 2020. On October 4, deceased victim’s aunt Kusum reached the D10/3, Model Town, where she found Neetu’s lifeless body hanging with a dupatta with several burnt marks on her hands.
The police officials were already present at Drupati Bansal’s house before the arrival of Kusum and had a very casual attitude at the crime scene. Later, the police authority took the body of the deceased victim without the permission of the victim’s family in an ambulance, and didn’t even bother to share where are they are heading with the deceased.
The victim’s family were detained on October 4, 2020 at Model Town police station till 2am of October 5 for interrogation. On October 7, as the family was not aware about victim’s body, they staged a protest along with some civil society organizations in front of the house of the accused. The family of the victim were taken into custody for protesting and were beaten up badly.

The entire family including victim’s aunts and 65-years old grandmother were manhandled by both men and women Police officers of Model Town, Delhi. The family and other protestors were forced to delete the pictures of Neetu along with other pictures related to the case from their mobile phones.

After four days of the murder of the girl, on October 8, 2020 the victim’s family got the access to see Neetu’s body, when the family was called again to the Model Town Police Station to identify victim’s body for postmortem.

Family members staged a protest with NGO help in front of the house of the accused. They were taken into custody and were beaten up badly

The family members were taken to Safdarjung Hospital, Delhi in a truck for identifying victim’s body. The most tragic part was the forced cremation of the victim and pressure the police authority on the victim’s family to cremate her as soon as possible. Only the victim’s father and Neetu’s aunt were permitted to go to the cremation ground.

Even after the 20 days of death of the victim, FIR is not yet registered against the accused family. Use of power by police authority to cremate the body, and not allowing much family member to attend the cremation is very similar to the case of Hathras, where the Hathras victim was also cremated by the police authority without the consent of the family at midnight.
This is a sheer reflection of the shameless, fearless attitude of the police authority and the governing machineries, our hollow democratic institutions and system which is allowing these kinds of incidents to happen one after another.
AIDMAM demands:

Immediate registration of FIR under IPC Section 120B, 321, 326, 341, 302, 376Dand POCSO Act against the accused family members.
Immediate registration of FIR against the erring police officials under section 166A IPC for negligence and refusing the registration of the FIR of the survivors just to shield the police officials who committed brutality against the poor helpless survivors.
To file the criminal case against the police officials who were involved in the forced cremation of the victims’ body and create pressure on them; for disappearance of the evidence, physical assault and illegal detention of the victims in the police station.
Initiate the judicial enquiry free from state pressure and political interference.
Immediate sanction of the monetary compensation to the survivor family under Victim Compensation Scheme and Nirbhaya Fund.
Protection to be provided to the survivor’s family members.
A legal counsel (free advocate) should also be provided to the victim’s family by the Delhi State Legal Service Authority to conduct the case in the court at the cost of the state.
A Fast Track Court should be set up at the earliest to try this case.

---

Click here for details of the case

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Transgender Bill testimony of Govt of India's ‘contempt’ for marginalized community

Counterview Desk India’s civil society network, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM)* has said that the controversial transgender Bill, passed in the Rajya Sabha on November 26, which happened to be the 70th anniversary of the Indian Constitution, is a reflection on the way the Government of India looks at the marginalized community with utter contempt.

Search This Blog