Three days after a teenage girl was molested and pushed to her death from a moving bus in Punjab's Moga district, her relatives have refused to perform her final rites till the time the proprietors of the company that owned the vehicle are booked.
Her father sought security for the family apprehending threat to their lives and claimed they were under political pressure to "hush up" the matter and go for a compromise.
Meanwhile, under fire over the incident, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal this evening ordered all buses of Orbit Aviation, which he co-owns, off the road.
"We are not going to cremate our daughter whose body has been kept in a mortuary until and unless justice is done to us by initiating criminal case against the owner of the bus," victim's father Sukhdev Singh said.
He also sought a written assurance from the authorities that no harm would be brought to the family.
"We, including my son, should be given security cover because we are feeling threatened. A written assurance should be given undertaking responsibility in the event of any harm to any of our family members," he told journalists.
He also stuck to his demand for registration of a case against Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal and cancellation of road permits of Orbit Aviation, which owned the bus from which the deceased and her mother were thrown out after being molested, before the family performed her last rites.
The family had yesterday rejected the government's offer of a compensation of Rs 20 lakh, a government job for her mother, her free treatment and holding trial of the case in a fast track court.
Amid mounting protests by opposition parties including Congress and AAP, Sukhbir Badal, while ordering all his company's buses off the road, also directed that the operating staff be sent for an "orientation course".
