On 4 October, a 17-year-old Nishad girl was found dead in her employer’s house, hours after she had called her foster mother and asked to leave that house. The girl told her mother that she was forced to sleep in the driver’s room. The police ruled her death a suicide without waiting for the forensic examination results and forced the family into a hurried cremation. Kusum, the foster mother, accused the employers and the driver of rape and murder.
On 26 October, student activists organised a protest with Kusum and her family outside the office of Vijayanta Arya, the Delhi Police DCP of North West district. Two previous protests after the death had led to the Model Town police violently assaulting the family, activists and even a journalist. After the third protest, the police still refused to register an FIR, and only committed to conducting an investigation within seven days.