UNNAO ‘RERUN’Woman raped, set on fire in Fatehpur

KANPUR: A 20-year-old woman was allegedly raped and set on fire by the rapist in Hussainganj police station area of Fatehpur district on Saturday. The victim was

KANPUR: A 20-year-old woman was allegedly raped and set on fire by the rapist in Hussainganj police station area of Fatehpur district on Saturday. The victim was battling for life with 90 per cent burn injuries in LLR hospital, Kanpur, police said.

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The incident comes on the heels of the Unnao case wherein a gangrape victim was allegedly assaulted and set on fire by five men in Unnao district early this month. She later died in a Delhi hospital.

Superintendent of police (SP), Fatehpur, Prashant Verma said the accused, who lives next door to the victim’s house, raped the woman on Saturday morning when she was alone in the house.

“When she threatened to complain about him to her family members and police, the accused brought a kerosene canister from his house, poured it on her and set her on fire,” the SP said.

Verma said the accused was absconding and police teams were hunting for him.

However, district magistrate, Fatehpur, Sanjeev Singh said initial investigation hasn’t ruled out the possibility of suicide attempt by the woman.

Singh said the accused and victim had an affair for the last two years and since the former happened to be a distant relative, the woman’s family members weren’t approving of their marriage.

According to the DM, on Saturday morning, a panchayat was held near the woman’s house in which members of the two families participated along with other villagers, he said.

The victim’s family had put a condition that the two would not see each other and accused would leave the village and not come back until the girl was married off. The family members of accused agreed to the condition and took a pledge before the villagers, he said.

At this point, the victim left the spot and before the villagers could disperse they heard her screams and saw smoke coming out of her house, Singh said.

“All those present at the panchayat have given in writing the sequence of events,” the DM said.

The district magistrate, however, said a case of rape (IPC section 376) and attempt to murder (IPC section 307) was registered on the basis of complaint given by her brother. “The police making efforts to arrest the accused,” he said.

In her statement, given at the district hospital to police and the naib tehsildar, the victim said her family members were away in the field when the accused barged into her house, overpowered her and then raped her. After she threatened him that she would tell her family members and the police about the rape, the accused brought kerosene from his house and burnt her, she said in her statement.

The neighbours came to her rescue on hearing her shrieks, police said, and added that they used gunny bags to douse the fire, and then informed police. She was first taken to the district hospital from where she was referred to LLR Hospital in Kanpur.

Dr Naresh Vishal, who attended to her at the district hospital, said the victim has suffered 90 per cent burn injuries. “She received burn injuries on her entire body, Only her feet were not burnt. Her condition is extremely critical and we have referred her to LLR Hospital, Kanpur,” he said.

SAVE ME !

“Save me, save me, I do not want to die,” the victim was screaming when she was brought to the district hospital in an ambulance. She kept saying this to the naib tehsildar, who reached there with a woman police inspector to record her statement at the hospital. Her brother was by her side and was trying to console her as other family members outside the ward were wailing over her condition,” police said.