Tension flared in the city's Bhowanipore area on Tuesday after enraged locals assaulted the father and stepmother of an 11-year-old girl whose body was recovered in a partially hanging manner from a cupboard at their home a day earlier.
The girl, Suranjana Singh, was the niece of Sanjay Roy, the key convict in the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital rape-murder case, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an on-duty doctor, police said.
The couple, Bhola Singh and his wife Pooja, who were allegedly trying to flee their residence, were confronted by neighbours and attacked in a display of public outrage after they accused the duo of torturing the child physically and mentally at home, a senior police officer said.
Eyewitnesses said locals dragged the stepmother by her hair and beat her, while the father was also thrashed with shoes.
Police reached the spot and escorted the couple to the local Alipore police station after rescuing them from the agitated neighbours.
Police said Bhola had earlier married Babita, the elder sister of Sanjay Roy, and Suranjana was their only child.
Following Babita's death by suicide a few years ago, he married her younger sister, Pooja. The girl, a class 5 student, was found hanging from a hanger inside a wardrobe with a piece of clothing tied around her neck and was discovered in that state after her stepmother returned home from outside. She was taken to the SSKM hospital, where she was declared dead on arrival.
Neighbours alleged that the parents routinely abused the girl, both physically and mentally.
"The child was often thrown out of the house at night, even as late as 2 am. The mistreatment had left her deeply traumatised," one of the neighbours alleged.
The victim's grandmother alleged that the parents used to beat her up with belts, and her head was often banged against walls under one pretext or the other.
Speaking to reporters, the father said, "I have no child left. There is no meaning to my life anymore." Preliminary autopsy report of the girl received by police hasn't allowed the investigators to rule out the crime just yet.
"Initial probe suggested suicide. However, a possible homicide is not being ruled out," the officer said, adding that they were waiting for the detailed post-mortem examination and forensic reports to ascertain the exact cause of death.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
