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Emotional scenes greet arrival of rape victim’s body in Unnao village
Wails greeted the arrival of the Unnao victim’s body in her village as policemen carried it from the ambulance to her house on Saturday night.
Wails greeted the arrival of the Unnao victim’s body in her village as policemen carried it from the ambulance to her house on Saturday night.
Women and girls, who had been waiting for the body since morning, cried inconsolably. Her father slumped on seeing the body and his relatives held him tightly.
Beating his chest, he kept screaming, “Hamri bitiya ko jala ke maar deehin’ (They burnt my daughter alive).”
The 24-year-old woman died on Friday night in New Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital, where she was admitted on Thursday after being airlifted from Lucknow. She had suffered 90% burns when she was allegedly set ablaze by five men, including two of her alleged rapists, near Gaura crossing on early Thursday morning.
The incident took place when she was going to catch a train from Baiswara railway station for Rae Bareli where she was to attend a hearing of her rape case in court.
The ambulance carrying her body left New Delhi around 1pm and reached the Bihar area of Unnao district around 8.30 pm. The ambulance, which was stopped at the Bihar police station, remained there for more than 45 minutes.
Before bringing the ambulance to the village, the officials tried to clear the village of the workers of different political parties. The police feared the workers could create law and order problems
Police officers posted in the village had heated arguments when some workers resorted to slogan shouting on hearing the ambulance was about to arrive.
Five political workers were arrested and taken to the Bihar police station.
Samajwadi Party MLC Sunil Sajan and the party’s district president Dharmendra Yadav were asked to leave the site immediately.
District magistrate Devendra Pandey met the father of the victim. The father, however, refused to bury his daughter in the night as the administration wanted.
He said one daughter of his was travelling from Pune to attend the funeral, which would take place on a small piece of land the family owns on the outskirts of the village.
“Under no circumstances, I will bury my daughter at night, stop digging the grave and preparing the arthi (bier),” he told the officials.
The district magistrate said the burial would take place as per the family’s wishes.
As per tradition, an unmarried woman is buried, not cremated.
