Hundreds of people blocked a national highway in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district on Wednesday a day after a healthcare worker committed suicide after a video of her gang rape became viral on social media.
Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and villagers of Chapra village under Chapar police station demanded a Rs 20 lakh compensation for the woman’s family, a government job for her husband, life insurance for other ASHA workers and capital punishment for the accused in the case.
They also threatened to boycott polio vaccination work on Sunday if their demands were not met.
The 40-year-old woman’s husband had lodged a case of rape against Sahib, a resident of Chapra village, and others at Chapar police station of Muzaffarnagar district.
The woman was allegedly raped by Sahib who had asked her to help his sister-in-law who was giving birth. Her family has charged that Sahib and his friends gang raped her after drugging her on her way back home. They also made a video of the act, uploaded it on WhatsApp and circulated the clip.
The woman committed suicide on Tuesday by consuming poison after she came to know that the video was being circulated in the village.
{{/usCountry}}The woman committed suicide on Tuesday by consuming poison after she came to know that the video was being circulated in the village.
{{/usCountry}}Police arrested Sahib from Roorkee of Uttarakhand on Tuesday while the other accused are still at large and officials say they will also be arrested soon.
The protesters relented only after Union minister of state for agriculture Sanjeev Baliyan assured them that the arrested accused would be booked under the stringent National Security Act (NSA). Baliyan also assured a job for the woman’s son and to bear the expenses of her two daughters’ education.