Unnao: 5 Men Set Rape Survivor On Fire On The Way To Court, Arrested

Five men were arrested after they set a rape survivor on fire in Unnao district on Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. The survivor, a woman, was on the way to a hearing a rape case she had filed against two men earlier this year, BBC reported.

The two accused are among the five men , who are accused of setting her ablaze on Thursday morning. The woman named five persons involved in the crime, the police told PTI.

One of the two rape accused had been released on bail last week. According to News18, the survivor had been harassed by them since then.

Thursday’s incident occurred at Sindupur village under Bihar police station area. The survivor was shifted to a government hospital in Lucknow and is in a critical condition, the police told PTI.

The woman had registered an FIR in the rape case earlier this year, which said five men had sexually assaulted her several times. She alleged she was later raped by two men at gunpoint, Indian Express  reported.

One of the accused had been arrested and sent to jail, NDTV ’s report said. The other had been on the run.

The incident comes in the backdrop of protests across the country against the rape and murder of a 26-year-old veterinarian in Hyderabad last week.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi said it was infuriating to see reports of such incidents every day. 

Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government said it would bear all expenses of the survivor’s medical treatment.  “We will spare no effort to punish the perpetrators,” the government said in its statement.