Unnao (UP): A rape survivor from Unnao was battling for life with 90 per cent burns Thursday after five men, including two of the accused, allegedly set her on fire while she was on her way to court, police said.
One of the two men accused of raping her last year was granted bail 10 days back. The other man had been on the run. All the five men involved in the Thursday morning attack were arrested within hours and the victim airlifted in the evening to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital.
The woman said in a statement that she was on her way from her village in Unnao district to Rae Bareli where the trial is going on when she was attacked. Doctors attending on her at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital in Lucknow said she is in a “very serious” condition.
“The condition of the girl who was set on fire and bought here at 10 am is very serious. She has 90 per cent burn injuries and we are taking the utmost care,” Medical Superintendent Dr Ashutosh Dubey told PTI.
In the evening, the state government arranged an air ambulance to take her to Delhi, Lucknow Commissioner Mukesh Meshram said. Meshram said a team of doctors accompanied the woman. The UP police said the victim had lodged an FIR alleging that she had been raped between January 19 and December 12, 2018 by one of the accused on the pretext that he would marry her.
The accused was arrested then and got out on bail November 25, police said while responding to a tweet by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. They added that the probe into the incident is being conducted in a scientific manner and the circumstantial evidence collected.
In a chilling recap, the woman said in her statement to Sub Divisional Magistrate Dayashankar Pathak that she was attacked when she reached Gaura turn near her home. Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai, Shivam Trivedi and Shubham Trivedi set her afire, she said.
She alleged that Shivam and Shubham Trivedi had abducted and raped her in December 2018. The FIR, however, was registered in March. After being set on fire, she ran for a while before some people saw her and informed police. She was taken to the community health centre from where she was sent to the district hospital, before being referred to Lucknow, police said. The incident, just days after the Hyderabad rape case in which the victim’s body was set ablaze, triggered outrage. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for 30 minutes.