Lucknow: A woman, who had set herself on fire in front of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s office, died at a hospital, officials said on Wednesday.
The woman and her daughter had set themselves on fire on July 17 over alleged police inaction in a land dispute case in Amethi district and were subsequently rushed to the hospital.
Also read: UP: BSP, SP Slam Govt After Woman, Daughter Attempt Self-Immolation Outside CM’s Office
“Safia, about 50, died during treatment in the hospital at about 11:45 pm on Tuesday. Her daughter is undergoing treatment,” the medical superintendent at Shyama Prasad Mukharji (SPM) Civil hospital told PTI.
Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujeet Pandey had said last week that the incident prima facie appears to be part of a conspiracy.
District President of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Kadir Khan and former Congress spokesperson Anoop Patel have been named. The Lucknow police had said the women were instigated by Patel to set themselves on fire as part of a “criminal conspiracy” and a case was also filed against him and three others.
“It is a criminal conspiracy as part of which some people instigated them (Safia and her daughter). A case has been registered against four people – Aasma, Sultan, Kadir Khan and Anoop Patel – in this regard,” he had said.
The women were told to come to Lucknow and try to set themselves on fire so that their grievances can be highlighted and the dispute resolved, Pandey had stated.
The police commissioner had claimed, “We have evidence to show that these women went to the UP Congress office and met Anoop Patel.”
A reporter in Lucknow was contacted and asked to highlight the issue. The reporter has also admitted to this, he had said.
“Anoop Patel clearly instigated them to make an effort to set themselves afire so that their matter could be heard,” he had said.
The Congress had, however, accused police of trying to implicate one of its party leaders from Amethi in the case.
Under a well-planned conspiracy, the police are dragging the name of a former spokesman of the Congress’ Amethi unit to hide the “bad shape of law and order,” Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee Vice President Virendra Chaudhary had said.
It is a jungle raj in the state. The criminal and police nexus is at its peak, said Chaudhary, asserting that the party has nothing to do with the women’s self-immolation attempt.
Neither on the day of the incident nor anytime near that day, the victims met Anoop Patel or talked to him on phone. The victims are being threatened to give statements so that the Congress leader could be famed. The victims are not being allowed to meet their family members or the media persons, Chaudhary said.
The victims have the right to seek help for getting justice and they had visited the offices of various political parties for it.
Anoop Patel had helped them put forth their problem before the media and this is not illegal, Chaudhary asserted.