‘Refused sex’, man sets on fire Dalit woman

ACTION Accused held from Salpura 2 days after woman died during treatment He (the accused) then asked her to have sex with him. On refusal, he poured kerosene on her and set her on fire

RATAN SINGH, SHO, Chipa Barod

A man was arrested on Sunday for setting on fire a Dalit woman after she refused to have sex with him on March 2 in Chipa Barod area of Rajasthan’s Baran district, police said.

The woman died a few hours after she was burnt.

The accused, Ram Bharan Ahir (31), a worker in marble industry, lived in the same building as a tenant, where the victim, Reena (35), and her husband also stayed as tenants.

“The victim said the accused called her to his room on Friday morning at about 7. He then asked her to have sex with him. On refusal, he poured kerosene on her and set her on fire,” said Ratan Singh, Chipa Barod station house officer (SHO).

Ahir locked himself up in the washroom as the woman burned, and later fled, Singh said.

The woman’s husband, a tailor, was sleeping at her house in the same building when the incident happened, he added. The woman was rushed to a hospital in Baran, from where she was referred to Kota. She died late on Friday evening.

The accused was arrested from Salpura railway station, while he was trying to flee. “He had switched off his mobile phone and was traced with the help of our informer network,” the SHO said.

Ahir had been booked for attempt to murder – the charge became murder after Reena’s death – and under section 3 of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. He has been sent to five-day police custody.

The accused’s wife expired a few years ago and his two kids live at their maternal uncle’s home in Uttar Pradesh.

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