UTTARAKHAND: The teenage receptionist of a resort who was murdered by her employer and son of a BJP leader was give a tearful farewell by thousands of people. She was murdered for resisting attempts by the accused to force her to 'cater to the needs' of guests visiting the resort.
The body of the victim was cremated at the NIT crematorium in the presence of a large gathering of mourners.
On Sunday evening, angry mourners blocked the NH 56 for 10 hours and insisted on the demand for the post-mortem report to be made public. The administration held talks with the bereaved family and protesters before the body was cremated.
People shouted slogans and blocked the national highway in Srinagar demanding justice for the teenager.
The last rites were to be performed at 8 am on Sunday, but the victim's father Virendra Bhandari insisted that he would not allow the cremation to take place until his daughter's post-mortem report was made public.
Earlier, Garhwal District Magistrate Dr Vijay Kumar Jogdande appealed to the people to allow the last rites, but the public stuck to their demands. The protest was supported by university students as well as businessmen and elders and a large number of women.
During this time, the public placed four demands before the administration. Locals demanded that the last rites would not be allowed to take place till the victim's post-mortem report was made public, a government job to a family member, a compensation of Rs one crore and a written assurance of "hanging the accused". Meanwhile, the district administration spoke to the victim's who initially refused to budge but finally agreed for the funeral.
Amid all this chaos, people blocked the Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway. In order to ensure that the passengers do not face any problem, police diverted traffic from Pauri Chungi to Dehradun to Devalgarh to Rudraprayag and Rudraprayag-Srinagar to Dehradun to Chauras.