Day after she was set ablaze, Unnao rape victim dies

New Delhi: She was on her way to board a train in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district to attend a court hearing over her rape when she was doused with kerosene and set on fire on Thursday. The 23-year-old was airlifted to New Delhi for treatment later that day. The victim died on Friday after suffering a cardiac arrest at 11.40 pm, Dr Shalabh Kumar, the head of burns and plastic department at Safdarjung Hospital said. She had suffered more than 90 per cent burns, most of which were facial and inhalation injuries.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday announced an ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh for the family of the victim, a senior official said here. Other facilities to be extended to the family will be looked into at the local level, Additional Chief Secretary Awanish Awasthi said. Besides Rs 25 lakh, the family will be given a government house, he said.

The body of the rape victim arrived in her native village on Saturday after 9 pm amid heavy police arrangements. The father of the deceased has demanded that the accused either be hanged or be shot dead similar to the Hyderabad 'encounter'. The gram pradhan, one of the five accused, had thrashed him and threatened to shoot him or get his daughter burnt or killed, he said.

Protests had been continuing as UP ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Kamal Rani Varun along with local BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj reached the village to meet the victim's family.

A number of protestors including some local Congress leaders sustained injuries as police used force to disperse the crowd which gathered outside the residence of the victim, shouted "Vaapas Jaao, Vapaas Jaao" (Go Back) and raised slogans against the state government and Sakshi Maharaj.

Meanwhile, in Delhi, members of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and National Students' Union of India (NSUI) took out a candlelight march demanding justice for the family of the Unnao rape victim. The IYC took out the march from the Assam Bhawan to Uttar Pradesh Bhawan and the NSUI marched with candles in their hands from Raisina Road to Jantar Mantar in Lutyens' Delhi.

The IYC's march was led by its national president Srinivas BV and joined by several youth protestors.

"The rising incidents of rape and brutal murder of our daughters and sisters in the country show that the present government has failed to provide the common minimum need of safety to women across the country," an IYC advisory stated.

"We demand the state and the Central government to take immediate action against the accused," said Srinivas. Several students participated in the candlelight vigil organised by the NSUI.

"Due to the incidents of Unnao and Hyderabad, there is an atmosphere of fear in the whole country, due to which women are living in fear," the student outfit said, adding, the present BJP government has completely failed in stopping such incidents.

It also questioned why the Prime Minister was refraining from speaking on the "ever-increasing" incidents of rape in the country.