Lucknow:
A woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district died of burn injuries on Tuesday, three months after she was raped, police said. A relative and two friends of the accused — who is in jail — were arrested after the woman’s father alleged that they set her on fire, police added.
The uncle of the accused and his friends had been pressuring her to withdraw the case, Senior Superintendent of Police, Santosh Kumar Singh, told reporters.
“The (rape) incident took place on August 15. The accused was arrested and he is still in jail. This morning, at 8 am, the woman came to the hospital with burn injuries. She was sent to Delhi for treatment where she died,” he said on Tuesday.
“Till 11 am, it was known that the girl set herself on fire. However, her family has alleged that she was set on fire by others…a fair investigation will be conducted. For now, three people have been arrested in the case,” he added.
Two policemen have been suspended for alleged negligence in handling the case, he said, adding two senior officers have also been taken off active duty.
According to a complaint filed by the woman on August 15, she was raped by a man who had come to her village to guard a mango orchard.
This comes weeks after a 20-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly gang raped and murdered by four upper caste men in UP’s Hathras district. The incident had triggered nationwide uproar after the victim’s body was cremated by the police in the dead of the night, allegedly without the consent of her family.
