Woman attacked by stalker dies in Bihar
MUZAFFARPUR 23-year-old woman was set afire on December 7
PATNA/MUZAFFARPUR: A 23-yearold woman, who was set on fire in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur earlier this month, died in Patna on Monday. She was being treated at the city’s Apollo Burn Hospital after sustaining 95% burn injuries.
The victim’s brother-in-law said the woman died around 11.40pm on Monday.
She was set on fire by Raja Rai, the son of a land dealer, who poured kerosene on her after she resisted his attempt to rape her on December 7. Rai was arrested soon after the incident, and his accomplice, Mukesh Kumar, a week later.
The deceased woman’s brother-in-law (her sister’s husband) demanded security for the family. He also demanded that his wife, an auxiliary nursing midwife at Bairiya in Sitamarhi, be transferred to Muzaffarpur so that she could be with her minor children, witnesses in the case.
The victim’s family had met the state’s principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar, on Monday afternoon and requested that she be shifted to a specialised hospital in New Delhi. Kumar said then that the government would constitute a medical board to see if this was required.
According to a complaint lodged at the Ahiyapur police station in Muzaffarpur, the woman was with her minor niece and nephew while their mother was on night duty at a primary health centre at the time of the incident. Rai, her neighbour, and Kumar barged in and tried to sexually assault her but failed. Irked, they set her on fire.
Rai had been stalking the woman for some time, her mother said.
Violent protests broke out on the streets of Patna and Muzaffarpur after the death was announced. Residents of Kumhrar in the state capital blocked a road and disrupted traffic for about seven hours, demanding death penalty for the accused.
They also disrupted movement of trains by blocking a railway track for more than an hour.
The protesters also demanded that chief minister, Nitish Kumar, meet them and the SSP, Muzaffarpur, be suspended.
The road blockade was lifted only after the ASP of Patna, Manish Kumar, assured the protesters that the accused would be punished.
In Muzaffarpur, too, people’s anger spilled on to the roads with residents Bairiya, Ahiyapur, Nazirpur, Khabra and Panitanki Chowk coming out to express their anguish and anger over the woman’s death.
GIRL SHOT AT AFTER FAILED RAPE BID; 4 HELD
A minor girl was shot at in the early hours of Tuesday in a village under Rajapur block of Rohtas district.
Rohtas SP Satyaveer Singh said that some people had attempted to rape the girl when she had gone to answer nature’s call along with her grandmother on Sunday. A case was lodged at Rajpur police station and four men have been arrested and sent to judicial custody. The girl has been medically examined at Sasaram Sadar hospital.