Rape survivor set on fire, runs for a while shouting for help

Unnao : A rape survivor from Unnao was battling for life with 90 per cent burns on Thursday after five men, including two of the accused, allegedly set her on fire while she was on her way to court, police said.

One of the two men accused of raping her last year was granted bail 10 days back. The other man had been on the run.

All the five men involved in the Thursday morning attack were arrested within hours as the Uttar Pradesh government prepared to fly the victim to Delhi for treatment.

The woman said in a statement that she was on her way from her village in Unnao district to Rae Bareli where the trial is going on when she was attacked.

Doctors attending on her at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital in Lucknow said she is in a "very serious" condition.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said she will be taken to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. "The divisional commissioner has been asked to arrange air ambulance. She will be shifted soon if the weather remains fine," he told PTI.

In a tweet, the Uttar Pradesh police said the victim had lodged an FIR alleging that she had been raped between January 19 and December 12, 2018 by one of the accused on the pretext that he would marry her.

The accused was arrested and got out on bail on November 25, police said while responding to a tweet by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

They added that the probe into the incident is being conducted in a scientific manner and the circumstantial evidence collected.

In a chilling recap, the woman said in her statement to Sub Divisional Magistrate Dayashankar Pathak that she was attacked when she reached Gaura turn near her home.

Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai, Shivam Trivedi and Shubham Trivedi set her afire, she said.

The woman ran for a while before eyewitnesses saw her and informed police, which sent her to the Community Health Centre from where she was sent to the district hospital.

She alleged that Shivam and Shubham Trivedi had abducted and raped her in December 2018. The FIR, however, was registered in March.

The incident, which happened just days after the Hyderabad rape case in which the victim's body was set ablaze, triggered outrage. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for 30 minutes amid an uproar by Opposition parties.

UP Minister Ranvendra Pratap Singh said that even Lord Ram cannot guarantee a 100% crime-free society. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government over the law and order situation.

Delhi Commission For Women chief Swati Maliwal on Thursday wrote to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, asking him to ensure that death penalty is awarded within 30 days to those accused of setting a rape survivor on fire.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) also stepped in with its chairperson Rekha Sharma writing to state Director General of Police O P Singh.

She sought an action taken report from the Uttar Pradesh police as well as a detailed report on the reported heinous crimes committed against women and bail granted in such cases in the last three years.

Unnao has been in the spotlight after a young woman alleged that she had been raped in 2017, when she was 17 years old, allegedly by former BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar.

A young woman's charred body was found in a mango orchard in West Bengal's Malda district on Thursday, raising suspicion that she was raped and killed, a senior police officer said.