18-Year-Old Girl Raped & Set Ablaze In Unnao

2019-12-16 09:50:37

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In a chilling reminder of the recent Unnao case, an 18-year-old girl was allegedly raped and set ablaze at a village in Fatehpur district here on Saturday. Her condition is critical and she is battling for her life at a Kanpur hospital with 90 per cent burns.

The 22-year-old accused is her distant relative, who allegedly raped and set the girl ablaze when she was alone at her house in a village under the Hussainganj police station, Circle Officer Kapil Dev Mishra was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

On hearing her cries, neighbours rushed her to a local community health centre from where she was referred to the Kanpur hospital.

On the complaint of the victim's father, an FIR has been registered against the accused and efforts are on to arrest him, the circle officer said.

The police officer said in the initial investigation, it has come out that the girl was "romantically involved" with the man and a panchayat was also held earlier between their families over the matter.

An understanding of marriage was also reached, he said, adding that further probe was on.

Last week, a rape survivor from Unnao was set ablaze by five people, including two rape accused. They were arrested the same day. The girl later died during treatment in a Delhi hospital.

The trend of setting women ablaze seems to be growing like an epidemic in India, Criminals are using this as a weapon to silence the victims of sexual assault.

After Hyderabad and Unnao cases that left the nation in utter shock, a woman had also been admitted to a hospital in Muzaffarpur in Bihar after she was allegedly set ablaze by a man at her house in Nazirpur village on December 7.

There is little debate about whether or not the safety of women should be guaranteed in a free and just society but expectations on these lines have long remained a distant dream for half of our population. While rape and sexual violence are in themselves heinous crimes, the use of force against the victim robs them of the little chances of justice that they have been denied.

There have been numerous instances of rape and crimes of sexual violence in India for long but these have spiked recently to perhaps unprecedented proportions in several parts of India.

On November 27, a veterinary doctor was raped and set ablaze by four truck drivers and cleaners near a toll gate in the southern city of Hyderabad. Her charred body was found a day after she went missing and this has resulted in protests and outrage across the country. The nation was yet grieving her loss but this was not the only incident.