The parents of the teenage girl who was stabbed and bludgeoned to death by a youth in northwest Delhi claimed they were not aware if she had any acquaintance with the accused and demanded capital punishment for him.

Police said the victim, and the accused, 20-year-old Sahil, were in a “relationship” but had a quarrel on Saturday.

Waiting at the Ambedkar Hospital to receive their daughter’s body, the victim’s parents said they were not aware if she had any acquaintance with Sahil. “We need justice for our daughter. She was brutally stabbed multiple times and her head was smashed repeatedly with a stone. We want the accused to be hanged to death,” her father Janak Raj said.

Her mother said her daughter had been staying at her friend Neetu’s house in Shahbad Dairy for the past 15 days as the latter’s husband was out of the station for work.

“My daughter had been staying with Neetu and her two children for the past 15 days. Just yesterday (Sunday) around 1:30 pm, I spoke to my daughter. She told me that she would return home once Neetu’s husband was back and I was eagerly waiting for her. Little did I know that she would never return,” she said. With teary eyes, she demanded justice for her daughter and said, “The accused should be hanged to death.”

The victim’s father, a labourer, said the police have assured them justice for their daughter and they believe in the system. Recalling Sunday’s incident, he said her daughter  was excited about organising the birthday party of her friend’s daughter and had gone out shopping.

“At the market, Sahil approached her and asked her to come with him. But when my daughter asked him why, he stabbed her multiple times and soon fell unconscious. He then smashed her head repeatedly with stones,” he said. The victim’s parents said their daughter, who passed the class 10 exam this year never told them about Sahil.

“It was when the police informed us that we got to know about Sahil. Our daughter never told about being harassed by anyone,” the victim’s father added. The family was in intense grief and pain as the 16-year-old’s mortal remains were cremated Monday evening.

 The mother of the deceased, watching helplessly as the pyre was lit, said, “We had our dinner and were planning to sleep when her daughter’s friend Bhawana knocked our door on Sunday around 9 pm. She informed us that someone has killed her daughter. We did not believe her words and I called Neetu, who told me that she had gone to market. We rushed to the spot and saw our daughter lying there in a pool of blood.”

 “We met a person in the hospital who said he was there at the spot and tried to save their daughter, but he was also attacked by the accused,” she said.

An elderly woman, who witnessed the Sunday’s incident, said, “People gather near our house every evening and have liquor or drugs. When we try to disperse them, they abuse us and threaten us.”