Rajasthan duo burns woman to death for protesting tree felling

ANGRY VILLAGERS INSISTED ON ARREST OF 10 PEOPLE NAMED IN THE FIR BEFORE CREMATINGTHEBODY

JODHPUR: A 28-year-old woman was burnt to death in her village near Jodhpur on Sunday, allegedly for protesting the felling of a tree. However, police claimed the woman had committed suicide.

Station house officer of Borunda police station Suresh Choudhary said Vidhyadhar of Hariyadhana village lodged a complaint that two people poured petrol over his sister Lalita and set her afire after she protested removal of two trees on the roadside near his field.

In the FIR, Vidhyadhar said he, along with his brother Kishan and two sisters, Lalita and Suman, was working in their field on Sunday when some people arrived with a bulldozer and started uprooting a neem and a khejdi tree.

According to the FIR, village sarpanch Ranveer Singh and revenue official Om Prakash stood there while others held the other siblings and thrashed them. In the meantime, two men called Shrawan Singh and Suresh set Lalita afire.

After the accused fled, Lalita was taken to a hospital in Borunda in a critical condition. She was referred to government hospital in Jodhpur, 100 km away, where she succumbed to the burns late Sunday night.

There was tension in the village on Monday morning when the body was taken there after post-mortem. Angry villagers insisted on arrest of 10 people named in the FIR before cremating the body. However, three hours after the body arrived in the village.