A day after she was sexually assaulted and allegedly burnt by two policemen at a local police station in Barabanki, mother of a local journalist, succumbed to burn injuries on Tuesday.
According to the medical superintendent of the Civil Hospital in Lucknow where she was being treated, the victim was almost completely burnt when she was brought for treatment.
The middle-aged anganwadi worker from Gaha village, in her statement before a magistrate while had said the two policemen poured petrol over her and burnt her after trying to rape her inside the premise of Kothi police station on Monday.
This comes over a month after Jagendra Singh, a Shahjahanpur journalist died after being burnt allegedly by cops for writing against a U.P. minister on Facebook.
Santosh, son of the victim who is associated with a local hindi daily in Barabanki demanded a CBI probe in the killing of his mother. He demanded murder charges be registered against the accused cops.
"The charges against the cops have been registered under sections of the IPC which are pretty minor and will ensure that they are scot free in a week," he said.
According to Santosh, a case was registered Against the cops for using abusive language. "They have suspended for detaining my father for more Han 24 hours. These charges are very minor in nature which is no justice to me and my dead mother," he told the media.
The two cops the Station House Officer of Kothi Police station Rai Saheb Yadav and Constable Akhilesh Rai have been suspended. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered a magisterial probe.
The woman had gone to Kothi police station to enquire about her husband after he was detained by the police in connection with a recent clash. When she requested the cops to release her husband they allegedly asked for bribe. Her refusal to pay bribe led to heated exchange of words between them after which the two cops took her into a room.
According to the written statement of the woman: “The SHO Yadav and Constable Rai took me into a room where they tried to take away my jewellery and outrage my modesty. When I raised an alarm they doused me with petrol and burnt me.”
The police, however, maintained that she self-immolated. Her son, Santosh, rejected the police version saying there was “no reason for her to self-immolate”.
While Akhilesh Yadav is under fire because of law and order situation, the Opposition on Tuesday claimed the Barabanki incident would not have happened had the cops and the minister allegedly responsible for burning Jagendra Singh, would have been sacked.
The State BJP Chief Lakshmikant Bajpai told The Hindu on phone that “the assault of a woman by none other than cops who are supposed to be the protectors and her being burnt alive is the real face of the so called good governance of Samajwadi Party.
The victim in her statement before a magistrate while she was hospitalised said two policemen poured petrol and burnt her
Published - July 08, 2015 12:00 am IST
