WOMAN WHO SET HERSELF ON FIRE OUTSIDE SC DIES

NEW DELHI: A 24-year-old woman, who set herself on fire along with a 27-year-old man outside the Supreme Court on August 16 over alleged harassment related to a rape complaint she filed against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai, died of her burn injuries on Tuesday. The man, who was a witness in the case against Rai, succumbed to his injuries on August 21.

The police said that on May 1, 2019, the woman filed a rape case against Rai, an MP from Ghosi. He has been in jail since June 2019.

Before setting themselves on fire, the two alleged that the woman was being harassed by associates of the MP.

NEW DELHI: Three days after a 27-year-old man succumbed to burn injuries at the RML hospital, a 24-year-old woman, who set herself on fire along with the man outside the Supreme Court on August 16 over alleged harassment related to a rape complaint she filed against an MP, too died at the hospital on Tuesday morning.

The woman was on ventilator support after sustaining 80% burn injuries in the incident. The man had 70% burns on his body.

The police said that on May 1, 2019, the woman filed a rape case against Bahujan Samaj Party MP from Ghosi, Atul Rai, at the Lanka police station in Varanasi. After the MP’S anticipatory bail was rejected by the Supreme Court the same month, he surrendered in a Varanasi court in June 2019. He is currently in jail.

On August 16 afternoon, the man and woman, both from Uttar Pradesh, held a Facebook Live session from outside gate D of the Supreme Court before pouring kerosene and setting themselves on fire. In the video, the woman had accused at least five senior Uttar Pradesh police officers of harassing her to save the MP in the case she filed against him. In the 10-minutelong video, she said she was also being framed in a false case.

In her complaint to the police, the woman alleged that Rai called her to his house to meet his wife on March 5, 2019, but she claimed he allegedly forced himself on her when she reached there. She also accused the MP of recording the act and allegedly using it to blackmail and threaten her against approaching police.

Last week, after reports of the couple’s self-immolation, the Uttar Pradesh (UP) police had said that Rai was arrested on the woman’s complaint and a charge sheet was also filed against him. They also suspended two policemen, Varanasi Cantt SHO Rakesh Singh and sub-inspector Girija Shankar Yadav, and initiated departmental action against them for deficiencies in another case which the woman had alleged was filed to harass her.