The mourners also accuse police of apathy, echoing concerns raised over and over again by human rights groups and activists concerning the handling of cases by India's law enforcement officers.
Most of the country's policing system is based on the 19th-century, colonial-era Indian Penal Code (IPC), designed in the wake of an armed uprising against British rule in 1857.
In its 2009 report, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch reported that Indian police forces have yet to evolve from the IPC's original pattern of behavior.
Authorities have acknowledged in past years that the country's police have also been under-staffed and under-resourced.
Katra Sadatganj's police station has been temporarily shut down after the attack drew national and international attention.
Two of its officers are among five people who have been arrested in connection with the schoolgirls' deaths.
The arrests so far notwithstanding, the murdered girls' families are unforgiving about the police's response to the case.
"If police wanted, my daughter would have been alive today," the father of the eldest victim wailed.