27-year-old man who set himself afire near Supreme Court dies

The woman on May 1, 2019, filed a rape case against Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) parliamentarian Atul Rai at a Varanasi police station, for which he was imprisoned, and is still behind bars.

A man who set himself on fire, along with a 24-year-old woman, outside the Supreme Court last week, succumbed to his injuries at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on Saturday morning. The two were admitted to the burns ward of the central Delhi hospital after trying to self-immolate outside gate D of the apex court on August 16. The woman is currently being treated at the facility and doctors said she has sustained 80% burn injuries.

Doctors told police the man had critical burn injuries and was on ventilator support.

The woman on May 1, 2019, filed a rape case against Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) parliamentarian Atul Rai at a Varanasi police station, for which he was imprisoned, and is still behind bars.

The 27-year-old-man who died on Saturday and the woman were college mates.

The police said that a preliminary investigation revealed that he was a witness in the case against Rai. His family did not wish to comment on his death.

Doctors told police the man had critical burn injuries and was on ventilator support.

On the afternoon of August 16, the two relayed a live video from outside the Supreme Court, before pouring kerosene on themselves and setting themselves on fire.

In the video, the woman accused at least five senior Uttar Pradesh police officers of harassing her to save the parliamentarian. The woman also alleged that she was framed in a fake incident for filing a case against the BSP politician.

The woman in her complaint also alleged that Rai made a video of the act and threatened to make it public it if she approached the police.

The UP Police have said that Rai was arrested after the woman’s complaint and a charge sheet filed against him.

In the Facebook video, the woman said she was harassed for filing the complaint.

The Delhi Police have not filed any case in the matter.

A senior Delhi Police officer, who asked not to be named, said, “The two were not fit for statement. The Uttar Pradesh Police also came to the hospital to take their statements but could not. The UP Police are investigating the cases she had filed. Meanwhile, we are waiting to take the woman’s statement. If she is not able to give her statement, we can also use the video she relayed to start the investigation.”

Initial investigations showed that Rai’s brother, Pawan Kumar, filed a case against her in November 2020 at a Varanasi police station, accusing her of forging her birth record. Earlier this month, a local court in Varanasi issued a non-bailable warrant against her.

Kumar refused to comment on the matter, saying the case was sub-judice.

Earlier this year, the woman also approached the Supreme Court seeking a transfer of the case against Rai from Uttar Pradesh to a Delhi court. The Supreme Court on March 9 stayed the trial and issued a notice to the jailed MP.

On August 17, the Uttar Pradesh government formed a two-member team headed by an officer of director-general rank to probe all the FIRs pertaining to the rape survivor and her associate.