ETAWAH RAPE VICTIM BATTLES FOR LIFE, PRIME ACCUSED HELD

KANPUR/LUCKNOW: The Etawah gangrape victim, hospitalised with 90% burns on Wednesday evening, was battling for life at a post-graduate hospital in Saifai town.

On Friday, the brother of the victim said that her condition was fast deteriorating. She was on ventilator. “We want her shifted either to AIIMS or SGPGI, Lucknow,” he told HT on phone, adding that doctors had advised against shifting because of her precarious condition.

The girl was allegedly gangraped and set afire in the house of her fiancé, where she had gone to persuade his family to solemnise their wedding without dowry. The family of the fiancé, one Farhan, resides in the same village.

The police registered an FIR against Farhan, his father Pappu Mian, brother Shoaib, uncle Shakeel and grandmother Sabra. Farhan was arrested from his hideout in Etawah late Saturday evening. Additional director general (law and order) Arun Kumar said the girl was getting the best treatment at the Saifai hospital and that shifting her could be risky. “The doctors are opposed to her shifting under the circumstances,” he said.

Kumar added efforts were being made to arrest the other members of his family accused in the case.

The doctors, meanwhile, said they were hoping for the best. “The next 24 hours will be very crucial,” a doctor attending to the victim said.

The police have taken Farhan to an undisclosed location where he is being questioned. Several police teams were conducting raids in Etah, Kanpur and Kanpur Dehat districts to track the rest of the accused.

Local intelligence sleuths have also been asked to watch out for the accused persons.

The heavy deployment of police force has triggered the panic in the Baisermau village resulting in close relatives and friends of the accused persons leaving the village to escape police harassment. DIG, Kanpur range, RK Chaturvedi, confirmed the arrest of Farhan, with whom the victim was in love for past three years and wanted to marry, but his family demanded money of R5 lakh as dowry.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.