Uttarakhand girl Ankita Bhandari cremated amid protests across the State

Virendra Bhandari, the father of the deceased girl, questioned the government’s action in demolishing the resort at which she had worked

The body of Ankita Bhandari was cremated on Sunday evening following a day of protests across Uttarakhand. Thousands of people from across the State attended the cremation. The Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway was blocked by protesters for several hours. Huge crowds also gathered at the police station and outside the mortuary.

The father of the deceased girl, Virendra Bhandari, questioned the government’s action in demolishing the resort at which she had worked, terming it “destruction of evidence” in the murder case. “The police’s bulldozer action has tampered with the evidence. Also, we are not satisfied with the post mortem report of our daughter. I also demand the fast track trial of the accused. Only after all this, we will cremate our daughter,” Mr. Bhandari had said while talking to media.

The police claimed no stone had been left unturned and the accused would receive the “harshest punishment”.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi took to Twitter and said that girl’s kin were asking why “evidences are being destroyed”. “A heart-wrenching incident happened with Ankita of Uttarakhand. But even after such a big incident, the administration is restricting itself to action just for show. Just imagine what Ankita’s parents might be going through,” Ms. Vadra tweeted.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi condoled the death and criticised the BJP government. “Crime and arrogance have become synonymous with BJP. No embarrassment, no words, just silence, the Prime Minister’s message is clear — women should not expect anything from me,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat also attacked the government. “The government should clear its stand that why Patwari (revenue police) took so long to act. It should also make clear why police haven’t sought remand of the accused. I also learnt that there was no female doctor in the panel that conducted the post mortem of daughter Ankita,” Mr. Rawat said.  

Additional Superintendent of Police (SP) Kotdwar Shekhar Suyal refuted allegations of destruction of evidence. “No evidence has been destroyed. Our team has done videography of all the rooms. We have also collected forensic and scientific evidences. We have enough evidence to prove that the accused are guilty,” Mr. Suyal said.