Days after a five-year-old girl died after being raped by her cousin in Ghaziabad's Shahpur village on Sunday, the villagers are yet to come to terms with the incident.

Shocked, bewildered and angry though they are, the punishment the "brother" received for the abominable act? Only five slaps.

The village elders are planning to brand the culprit's entire family pariah and send them packing. "He has brought shame on the entire village and the family no longer has the right to live here. We will get all the villagers to sign a letter stating that the family is not wanted here," village headman Gyanendra Kumar said.

The rape accused, Om Dev alias Tiger, and his father Dev Giri are already facing the charge of murdering a man and dumping the body in the fields.

The father-son duo had been released from jail only around one-and-a-half months ago on bail for alleged involvement in the murder, which occurred in October last year. Another member of their family, Jeet Giri, was also a bad element of the area and had been murdered by a rival.

Around 5 pm on Sunday, five-year-old Latika (name changed) was playing near her house when Tiger raped her brutally in a deserted room nearby. Hearing the minor's screams, Latika's mother Sunita rushed to the spot and caught Tiger in the act. " When I caught hold of his hand, he tried to forcefully pull it away.

After injuring me in the scuffle, he ran into the fields," Sunita said.

She told her husband Mangu Giri (36) of the incident and the couple then complained to Tiger's family, but the latter refused to believe it. Besides, elderly members of the accused's family dissuaded the victim's parents from reporting the matter to the police and advised them to " settle the matter amicably". The alleged rapist's " punishment" was decided as five slaps.

Latika started vomiting soon after reaching school on Monday morning and the school staff told Sunita to take her to a hospital. The child died on way to the district MMG Hospital after being referred there by a private clinic at Ghantaghar.

A pained Mangu later clarified, " I am not at all satisfied? This is no punishment for what he did to my daughter. I wanted to lodge an FIR. But I was told not to open my mouth by so many people." Though a case of rape and murder has now been registered against Tiger at the Murad Nagar police station, he has not been arrested yet. " We have taken him into custody and are investigating," Murad Nagar SO Sudhir Tyagi said.

SSP Raghubir Lal confirmed, "He is only in detention. The post-mortem examination report mentions strangulation as the reason for Latika's death." He, however, clarified that Tiger's family was a suspect in the case.