GANG RAPE SURVIVOR SET ABLAZE BY ACCUSED
Critical, she is ferried to Delhi in air ambulance
In a horrific incident, a gang rape survivor (21) in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district, was set on fire on Thursday morning by the same group of men who had raped her early this year.
The gruesome incident happened outside her village, ironically, when she was headed to Rai Bareli court for a hearing in the gang rape case.
According to sources, the victim was first attacked with canes and knives and then set on fire. Her condition is critical due to over 90 percent burns.
She had walked for nearly one kilometre before she got help from locals. She was rushed to a community health centre and later shifted to a Lucknow hospital.
Later in the evening, a green corridor was prepared to take her in an ambulance to Lucknow airport. It took over 22 minutes to cover around 20 km from the civil hospital to the airport. From there, she was lifted in an air ambulance to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital.
As outrage over the horrific incident started pouring in, Uttar
Pradesh Police swung into action and arrested all five men who set the woman on fire.
"She was coming towards us screaming for help. She had walked for nearly one km before she reached us. She also spoke to cops when we dialled 100 from a mobile phone," one of the eyewitnesses told reporters.
Recalling the incident while lying on a hospital bed in Lucknow, the woman told Sub Divisional
Magistrate Dayashankar Pathak in a statement that she was going to Rae Bareli to pursue her case.
As she walked down to a chauraha, Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai, Shivam Trivedi and Shubham Trivedi attacked her and set her afire. She alleged that Shivam and Shubham Trivedi had abducted and raped her in December 2018. However, the FIR was registered in March.
The gruesome incident happened outside her village, ironically, when she was headed to Rai Bareli court for a hearing in the gang rape case.
The woman had pressed gang rape charges against the two men accusing them of assaulting her and also filming the act last December. One rape accused was on the run and the other one was released on bail last week.
"In her FIR, the woman said that one of the two rape-accused was in relationship with her in 2018 but he physically exploited her, lured her with a marriage proposal. Later, he refused to get married and raped her with another friend," SK Bhagat, senior police officer from Lucknow, told reporters.
The Yogi Adityanath government sought a report from the state police on the matter, asked them to ensure "maximum punishment" for the accused and promised to fund the woman's treatment. The national commission for women took cognizance of media reports of the incident and sought a report from the government.