Woman who set herself on fire in front of Supreme Court succumbs

New Delhi: After a week-long battle with over 70 per cent burn injuries, the 24-year-old woman, who had set herself on fire outside the Supreme Court last week, succumbed on Tuesday.

Both the woman and her friend, a 26-year-old man set themselves on fire together on August 16 outside the top court. The man died of his injuries on August 22. Both have been identified as residents of Balia of Uttar Pradesh. They were admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital here.

In 2019, the woman, a student from Varanasi, had filed a rape case under IPC Section 376 against the Ghosi Lok Sabha MP Atul Rai from the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP).

The incident took place on August 16 in the afternoon (at around 12.20 PM) outside gate number D of the apex court after the duo forcefully tried to get inside the premises. Reportedly, they wanted to protest inside the court premises. The police team secured the spot soon after the incident.

While contacted, a local senior UP Police official also informed Millennium Post that the MP's brother had named her in an alleged forgery case, in which a local court had issued a non-bailable warrant for her. He alleged that the woman had forged documents to hide her date of birth.

Later, the police registered the FIR under IPC Sections 419 (cheating by personating), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) against the rape survivor.

Last week, a video was doing rounds on the social media sites wherein both the woman and her friend were seen running around after they had set themselves on fire while a few policemen and bystanders were trying to douse the flames. Meanwhile, a few cops could also be seen pouring water on the woman who was engulfed in flames.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has said that they have sent both the bodies for post-mortem and informed their families also. Significantly, the police was unable to record the statement of either of the two, given the serious nature of their injuries and their treatment.