New Delhi: A 24-year-old woman who had set herself on fire along with a man outside the Supreme Court passed away on Tuesday. The woman had earlier accused Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Atul Rai of rape and alleged that the Uttar Pradesh police and judiciary colluded with him, denying her justice.
The woman’s body was handed over to her family after a post-mortem, following which they cremated her at the Nigambodh Ghat.
The woman had suffered 85% on August 16. The man, 27, had suffered 65% and succumbed to his injuries on Saturday. Both were admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Deepak Yadav said, “The woman succumbed to injuries during the course of treatment on Tuesday.”
Following the incident, police had registered a case under Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. According to the police, before attempting suicide, the woman, together with her associate, had recorded a Facebook Live video in which she disclosed her identity and claimed that she had filed the rape case against Rai in 2019.
She had alleged that some senior Uttar Pradesh police officers were supporting the accused.
Earlier, a senior police officer had said that the man and the woman took the extreme step as a court had issued a non-bailable warrant against them in a case of forgery for allegedly submitting wrong proof of age in the rape case.
In her Facebook video, the woman had mentioned the warrant and that she had been summoned by the judge. “They have issued a non-bailable warrant against me. The judge has summoned me. They are all a part of nexus… Me and my witness were trapped,” she claimed.
“Now, you (Uttar Pradesh Police) can file false cases and non-bailable warrants against us…This is Uttar Pradesh’s judicial system,” claimed the man before dousing themselves with kerosene and setting themselves on fire.
According to the police, in March, the woman had filed a plea in the Supreme Court, seeking transfer of her rape case from Allahabad to Delhi for a fair trial and claimed that she faced a threat to her life
Later in August, a local court in Varanasi issued a non-bailable warrant against her in the forgery case based on a complaint filed by Rai’s brother. In November last year when Rai’s brother lodged a complaint against the woman accusing her of forging her documents, he claimed that the mark sheet she had produced while registering an FIR against Rai mentioned her date of birth as June 10. On the other hand, he referred to a 2015 incident where the woman in question accused a student leader of molestation and the documents she had used at the time to lodge the complaint mentioned her date of birth as March 10.
Following the suicide attempt, two Varanasi policemen including Varanasi Cantt SHO Rakesh Singh and investigation officer Girija Shankar, probing the case of forgery against the rape victim were suspended and an inquiry was initiated into the matter, police had said.
“It is unfortunate that they died. We are conducting an inquiry and have already suspended two officers in the last week. The report from the DG-level committee and Delhi Police will be submitted soon. We will then take further action in the case,” said Prashant Kumar, ADG (Law and Order) in Uttar Pradesh.
The woman’s parents told the Indian Express that they had not known why she was going to Delhi. They also said that she was “harassed and tortured”, and she felt the system was failing her.
“She never told us anything about her case. We wanted to help her, but she said she would handle it… The MP and his associates had been harassing her since 2019. They wanted us to withdraw the case, but we didn’t. They also had some videos and threatened us, but my daughter said she would fight,” her father said.
“My daughter never absconded… I don’t know why they issued a non-bailable warrant against her. She was upset and disappointed. I want the government to take strict action against the policemen. My daughter was harassed and tortured. We wish we knew more,” he said.
Her brother too said that the police was more intent on harassing her than actually probing the case. “She was at home, but the police never came for an inquiry,” he alleged, according to the Indian Express.
(With PTI inputs)