NEW DELHI/ UNNAO: The tragic death of the Unnao gang rape victim led to nationwide outrage with protests erupting in several parts on Saturday and her family demanding that the perpetrators be “chased and killed” like in the Hyderabad incident while Opposition parties accused the BJP government of Uttar Pradesh of failing to provide security to those brutalised by sexual violence.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath assured the grieving family of speedy justice, saying a fast track court would decide the case and all the accused persons were arrested. He later announced an ex gratia of Rs 25 lakh for the family.
After battling for her life with more than 90 per cent burns for almost 40 hours, the 23-year-old woman died following a cardiac arrest on Friday night at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.
Her family took her body back to her village in Unnao district by road after a post-mortem examination.
A senior doctor at Safdarjung hospital said the postmortem showed that the woman died of extensive burn injuries.
In the evening, when Uttar Pradesh ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Kamal Rani Varun along with local BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj went to to meet her family, they met with protests.
The protesters shouted ‘Vaapas jaao, vapaas jaao’ (Go Back) and raised slogans against the state government and Maharaj.
A number of protestors including some local Congress leaders sustained injuries as police used force to disperse the crowd.
In Lucknow, police baton charged Congress workers who staged a protest against the government in Hazratganj outside the BJP headquarters.
In the national capital, members of Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) took out a candlelight march demanding justice for the family of the victim.
The woman, who was raped last year, was set on fire early Thursday morning when she was on her way to Raebareli in connection with the court case filed by her. Five accused persons, including two who had allegedly raped her, were arrested soon after.
Stating that the perpetrators responsible for her death have no right to live, the victim’s father and brother demanded that they either be chased by police and killed in an encounter or be hanged to death.
“I want to see the accused persons being chased and shot dead,” the woman’s father said at their house in Unnao.
“I do not want money or any other kind of help. I want to see that the accused are chased and shot dead like the Hyderabad encounter or hanged to death,” he said.
The woman’s brother also made a similar demand of killing the accused either in an encounter or by hanging. He said his sister will get justice only when all those responsible for her death “will go to the place where she has gone”. (PTI)
