Patna, Jan 13

 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Monday assured the parents of the 16-year-old girl who was gang-raped and set ablaze in West Bengal that they will be rehabilitated and a government job provided to her father in Bihar.

"Nitish Kumar assured us to arrange for our rehabilitation in Bihar and would provide me a job in the police department as a driver," the girl's father, a taxi driver, told reporters here after he along with his wife met the chief minister.

He said they also requested Nitish Kumar to agree to their demand for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the case with the concerned authorities in West Bengal as well in the central government.

"Now, we will stay in Bihar after Nitish Kumar told us he will rehabilitate us here," the girl's mother said.

She said her family was facing threat to life in West Bengal from the rape accused.

The girl's father said his family will continue to fight for justice from Bihar.

"We will visit West Bengal whenever there will be a need in connection with the case in courts there," he said.

They said they came to Patna in the hope of getting justice in their home state.

"We hope to get justice at least in my own state Bihar, if not in West Bengal," he said before meeting Nitish Kumar.

The family hails from Bihar's Samastipur, but had migrated to Madhyamgram in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district in search of livelihood, he said.

"We have come here for justice, this is my soil," he said.

He said he hoped the Bihar government would take the case seriously and provide justice to his dead daughter.

The girl's mother said it was ironical that her daughter failed to get justice in West Bengal even though a woman was the chief minister of the state.

Nitish Kumar had earlier announced an ex-gratia grant of Rs.1 lakh for the girl's family.

The girl was allegedly raped twice by a gang in October last year and set afire Dec 23. She died of injuries Dec 31.

Alleging that the West Bengal Police were forcing them to leave the state, the family also met President Pranab Mukherjee, seeking death penalty for the culprits.

By:IANS