Rape Survivor Set Ablaze By Accused On Way To Court, Critical

UNNAO: A rape survivor is battling for her life after five men, including two of the accused who are out on bail, allegedly set her on fire while she was on her way to court, police said. All the five men have been arrested.

The woman received 90 per cent burn injuries and is being treated in a government hospital in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police O P Singh said.

The woman, who survived the sexual assault a year ago, said in her 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 and set ablaze early on Thursday morning.

In a chilling recap of the incident, she said in her statement to Sub Divisional Magistrate Dayashankar Pathak that she was going to Rae Bareli to pursue her case. When she reached the Gaura turn, near her home, Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai, Shivam Trivedi and Shubham Trivedi attacked her and set her afire.

Aflame, she ran for a while before eyewitnesses saw her and informed police, which sent her to the Community Health Centre from where she was sent to the district hospital before being referred to Lucknow, police said.

A similar case was recently reported from Sambhal district of the state. The woman later succumbed in a hospital in Delhi.

Unnao has been in the spotlight after a young woman alleged that she had been raped in 2017, when she was 17 years old. She alleged that Shivam and Shubham Trivedi had abducted and raped her in December 2018. However, the FIR was registered in March. The main accused in the case is former BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has taken cognisance of the incident and said that t he treatment of the victim will be carried out on government expenses and strict action will be taken against the accused (PTI)

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