In Bengaluru, couple threatens to immolate selves opposing demolition drive

In a video, which is viral on social media now, the couple can be seen trying to set themselves ablaze but were rescued by the police.

A couple in Bengaluru threatened the civic body officials to set themselves on fire if their house is demolished by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). In a video, which is viral on social media now, the couple can be seen trying to set themselves ablaze but were rescued by the police.

Screen grab from the viral Twitter video where the couple threatened to burn themselves down in Bengaluru

When a bulldozer approached the house of the couple, they gripped themselves to a wall outside their house with a bottle of what looked like petrol in their hands. As the woman started pouring petrol on herself, people around the spot started screaming in Kannada, asking the couple not to commit any mistake. However, the police immediately pulled the lady from behind and water was sprayed on both of them.

Media reports indicate that the couple Sona Sen and her husband Sunil Singh accused the civic body of making them homeless by demolishing their only house. The civic body claimed that the house was part of an encroachment of a stormwater drain at the SR layout of Krishnarajapuram area in Bengaluru.

In September, heavy rains left areas in Bengaluru under water and the civic body announced a demolition drive to remove all the encroachments on stormwater drains. Many IT parks, schools and gated communities in Mahadevapura area of East Bengaluru were also on the BBMP’s list of illegal encroachments.