UP: Teen rape victim, set on fire by accused, dies
In Uttar Pradesh, little is being done to save women from rapists. Earlier this month, a rape survivor in Unnao succumbed to her injuries after her rapists allegedly set her on fire. And another teen from Fatehpur district, which is next to Unnao, has met the same unfortunate fate. The victim died on Thursday morning, days after she was raped. Here are more details.
The victim was raped by distant relative, then set ablaze
The 18-year-old was raped on Saturday, December 14, allegedly by a distant relative. After assaulting her, the accused threw kerosene and set her on fire. "I was raped and set on fire when I was alone at home," she had told the reporters after the incident. The girl had suffered 90% burns and was shifted to Kanpur's Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital.
After accused was arrested, he claimed innocence
Reportedly, the victim ran from her house in flames. Her neighbors spotted her and informed the police. Thereafter, an FIR was registered on her family's complaint. On Monday, police said the accused, Mewa Lal, has been arrested. Denying the crime, he said, "I did not set the girl on fire, she herself did that. She came back from the Panchayat and burned herself."
She stayed in coma for three days, died today
As per reports, the victim was in a coma for the last three days. "She died at 7 am; the body will be handed over to the family members after the autopsy," RK Maurya, the superintendent in-charge at LLR hospital said.
Recent incidents show women aren't safe in UP
This incident comes merely days after the Unnao incident, where a rape survivor was set on fire by five men. Of the five, two were accused of raping her. She was brought to New Delhi for treatment but couldn't survive. Soon, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was berated with Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav staging a sit-in protest outside the state assembly.
