Shahjahanpur (Uttar Pradesh): A month after she was allegedly raped and set afire, a 21-year-old student of a degree college, run by former Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand, lost the battle for life in a Lucknow hospital.
The victim was set on fire in Shahjahanpur district February 22 and had sustained over 60 per cent burn injuries above the waist. In her ‘dying declaration’, the girl had named her friend’s brother-in-law Manish and an unidentified person.
During questioning of the accused, the name of Subhash, friend’s cousin, had also come to light. All the four persons are in jail. The girl had alleged that she was lured by her friend to a secluded place where she was sedated by the other accused.
When she regained her senses, she was being raped by one of them, she had said in the statement. The girl’s father said that in between the assault and the death, she put up a brave fight in spite of the enormous pain. The victim was on the road to recovery when her condition started deteriorating on Monday night. She died a few hours later.
The autopsy of the body was conducted by a panel of doctors in Lucknow and the body was later taken to Shahjahanpur. The cremation will take place in her village in the Kaant area of the district on Wednesday.
A student of BA second year, the girl was found along the national highway without clothes and completely burnt above the waist.
Shahjahanpur police has invoked IPC sections 376-D (gang-rape), 511 (attempting to commit offence punishable with imprisonment for life), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence), 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt with a weapon or means) against the accused.
More sections are likely to be added after the death.
Shahjahanpur’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) S.Anand said, “We had ensured the best possible treatment for the victim. We are yet to receive her autopsy report. We have arrested the accused after taking her dying declaration into consideration. We will soon file our investigation report in the court and ensure speedy trial in her case.”