'Police pushed for early cremation of gang-rape victim'

Delhi Police "forced" the family of the 23-year-old gang-rape victim to cremate her body before sunrise after she was flown here from Singapore early Sunday, a local BJP leader alleged. 

"The family members refused to cremate the body before sunrise. But they where forced by the police to do the cremation. The family where forced to do the last rites before sunrise," Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Vijender Gupta, who participated in the last rites, told IANS.

The body was taken to Mahavir Enclave in south Delhi, the residence of the victim, and the rites were performed before the cremation took place at a crematorium in Dwarka's Sector 22 amid heavy deployment of police and Rapid Action Force (RAF) personnel.

"With heavy police presence, the body was cremated around 7.30 a.m. today (Sunday) morning, as the (girl's) family members refused to cremate the body at 6.30 a.m (when it is still dark). The cremation was delayed and it was finally performed at 7.30 a.m.," Gupta added.

A special Air India aircraft carrying the body of the victim touched down at the Delhi airport at 3.30 a.m. The parents of the woman accompanied the body.

The woman was tortured and gang-raped by six men Dec 16. She was in the Safdarjung Hospital here for 10 days before being flown to Singapore for treatment when her condition deteriorated. She died early Saturday.