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Protests are continuing for the fourth day over the alleged gang rape, murder and forced cremation of a nine-year-old girl in the Indian capital, Delhi.
The girl's parents have accused a Hindu priest and three others of attacking her when she had gone to fetch drinking water from the crematorium's cooler.
Her mother said the gates were shut and she was threatened when she objected to her daughter's cremation.
Police have registered a case of gang rape and murder and arrested the men.
Warning: some readers may find this story distressing.
The girl's parents are Dalits - formerly untouchables - who make a living by begging outside a Sufi Muslim shrine located just across from the cremation ground in Delhi's Nangal area. The girl was their only child.
Her mother told me that on Sunday evening, she had sent her daughter to fetch water from the crematorium, just a few metres from their shanty.
"When she didn't return for over an hour, I went searching for her. At the crematorium, I found her lying on the ground. Her lips were blue, there was blood under her nose, she had bruises on her hands and arms and her clothes were wet."
She said the priest and the three men advised her not to call the police, saying "they would insist on an autopsy and steal her organs and sell them".
She alleged that they shut the gates to prevent her from leaving, threatened her and even offered to bribe her.
The child's father said that by the time he, along with about 150 villagers, reached the crematorium, their daughter's body was mostly burned.
The villagers said they called the police and doused the pyre with water, but could only retrieve her legs - which means a post mortem exam to confirm rape would not be possible.
A senior police official said that based on the information from the parents, a case of gang rape, murder and forced cremation had been registered against the accused.
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