Demolition row: Girl died before shack was crushed, father tells cops

Two days after a six-month-old girl's death during a demolition drive in west Delhi's Shakurbasti area triggered a political slugfest, police on Monday registered a case of negligence against unknown persons on the basis of a statement by the girl's father. In his statement (TOI has a copy), the father has said the girl died much before the drive began.

The family had initially said the child died as a result of the commotion caused by their having to leave their shack in a hurry. However, the girl's father, Mohammad Anwar, has now said the family was informed about the drive on Friday afternoon and had packed their belongings and left them on the bed.They planned to shift to a relative's house in Gandhi Nagar, where they sent their two other children, Noor and Jainav.

On Saturday night, An war's wife Safina left the sixmonth-old child on the floor while the couple slept in another room behind a partition in their shack. A round 9am on Satur day, Anwar and his wife Safina found that a pile of clothes and a few bags kept on the bed had rolled and fallen on the child. When Safina pulled the child out from under the pile, she found the baby was already dead. According to the post mortem report, the child died due to shock and had blunt injuries on her chest and head, which might have been caused by the heavy bag.

Police officials said when the demolition team reached the area around 4pm, all the families had vacated their houses, including Anwar. "We went ahead when there was no objection from the residents," said a police officer. The officials also said a neighbour had contacted the police around 9.30am, two hours before demolition began, informing them about the death of the infant, Ruksiya. The caller apparently claimed the child had died due to suffocation and was taken to Bhagwan Mahavir hospital.

A team led by SHO Punjabi Bagh reached the spot and found the family heading back home. The child's father, Anwar told police the child had died after a bag of clothes had fallen on her.The body was sent for autopsy at the Sanjay Gandhi hospital. The parents were handed over the body on Sunday .

"We have registered a case under sections of 304 (A) and have initiated a probe based on the statement by the father of the girl. We will follow legal procedures thereafter," said Pushpender Kumar, DCP, west.

Meanwhile, Anwar's family has been staying in the open at a plot which is a few metres away from their former shanty . "There have been relief camps set up in the area but there is a crowd there always. We don't have the means to fight for food and clothing so we have made our arrangements under the open sky," said Safina.They have been sleeping beside a bonfire using their belongings as beds.