Dalit rape survivor from UP dies in Delhi with 80% burns after family of accused ‘sets her on fire’
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 19, 2020
Meerut: A 15-year-old Dalit girl who had been allegedly raped three months ago died at a Delhi hospital with 80% burn injuries on Tuesday night. Police had on Tuesday said the girl, from a village in Bulandshahr, had set herself on fire. But the girl’s family has said relatives of the rape accused, who is in jail, had set her ablaze.
“The main accused had raped my daughter on August 14. He was arrested and sent to jail. But his family kept pressuring us to withdraw the complaint and then started threatening us,” said the police complaint filed by her father on Wednesday. The rape was reported to the police on August 15, when the accused was arrested.
On Tuesday, Bulandshahr Police had said that the rape accused lived 7km from the crime spot. He worked as a caretaker for a mango orchard in the girl’s village. His uncle, Sanjay, and a friend of his live in the same village. They are believed to have gone over to her house and threatened her to withdraw her rape complaint, police said. Her father has named seven persons in his complaint, on the basis of which an FIR has been lodged at Jahangirabad police station, alleging that they barged into his house and set his daughter on fire.
A video, which is circulating on social media, purportedly shows the girl narrating this account in her dying statement. She was taken to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi on Tuesday, where she died hours later.
The seven men were booked for attempt to murder (which will now become murder charges), criminal intimidation, trespass, rioting and under sections of the SC/ST Act. Five of them — Banwari, Badan Singh, Veer Singh, Jaswant Singh and Gautam — were arrested on Wednesday.
“Initially, it seemed she had killed herself. But her family has alleged that she was set ablaze by relatives of the accused,” said SSP Santosh Singh. “Four cops — the circle officer, Jehangirabad station officer, investigating officer and a constable — have been suspended.”
On Wednesday morning, Singh accompanied district magistrate Ravinder Kumar on a visit to her village, promising the family a compensation of Rs 3.75 lakh under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. “We have assured all possible help to them. We will also ensure no one harasses them again,” Kumar said.
Later in the evening, the girl’s father arrived at the village from Delhi with the body. She was cremated amid heavy police deployment. The village has been sealed off to visitors for now
Courtesy : TNN
