Unnao
Activists during a candlelight march in solidarity with rape victims and to highlight the issue of violence against women in the country, at ITO, in New Delhi, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019. (PTI Photo/Arun Sharma)
Unnao, December 7 (PTI) Protests were held on Saturday evening as UP ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Kamal Rani Varun along with local BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj reached the village of the Unnao gangrape victim and met her family.
A number of protesters including some local Congress leaders sustained injuries as police used force to disperse the crowd which gathered outside the residence of the victim, shouted ''Vaapas Jaao, Vapaas Jaao'' (Go Back) and raised slogans against the state government and Sakshi Maharaj.
The sloganeering continued for 15 minutes. Police used force to drive away the protesters after which the two ministers and the MP were taken to the victim''s home, villagers said.
The 23-year-old rape victim who was airlifted to Delhi and admitted to Safdarjung Hospital with 90 per cent burns after being set afire by the accused died following a cardiac arrest at 11.40 pm on Friday.
"The state government is standing with the aggrieved family. Criminals have been arrested....
"Today we have come to offer condolences to the aggrieved family members. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath did his best to save the life of this daughter, and she was airlifted to Delhi, and admitted to Safdarjung Hospital. Controlling death is not in our hands (maut humlogo ke bas ki nahin hai)," Swami Prasad Maurya said.
He also reiterated that the guilty persons will not be spared.
"A criminal is a criminal. If anyone tries to save the guilty persons, he too will be dealt strictly by the law," said Maurya, who is the UP Labour minister.
As Maurya reached the victim''s residence around 8 pm to hand over a cheque for Rs 25 lakh, Samajwadi Party workers demanded that a compensation of Rs 50 lakh be given to the aggrieved family.
Amidst a protest by SP leaders, Maurya handed over the cheque to family members.
The SP leader raising slogans were held by police but as soon as Maurya left the village, they were let off.
SP MLC Sunil Singh Sajan told PTI, "The administration wants that the last rites of the rape victim be performed tonight but the family wants that the last rites be conducted tomorrow as some of their relatives are coming from Mumbai. The intention of the administration is not right."
The entire district unit of the SP, along with senior party leaders, was present in the village.
Cabinet Minister for Technical Education Kamala Rani Varun also accompanied Maurya.
Sakshi Maharaj, when confronted by reporters and angry people, said, "Stringent action will be initiated against the guilty persons. No one will be spared. An effort was made to tarnish the name of Unnao and we will not allow this to happen."
Meanwhile, in Lucknow, police lathicharged Congress workers who staged a protest against the government in Hazratganj outside the headquarters of the UP BJP.
UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu was allegedly dragged on the road by the policemen, while other protesters resisted. PTI CORR NAV RT RDK
Unnao rape victim died of extensive burn injuries: Postmortem report
New Delhi, Dec 7 (PTI) The postmortem of the Unnao rape victim showed that she died of extensive burn injuries, a senior doctor at the Safdarjung hospital said on Saturday.
The 23-year-old woman was set ablaze on Thursday by five people, including two who are accused of raping her. She had suffered 90 per cent burns and was airlifted from Lucknow to the Delhi-based hospital where she died on Friday night.
The doctor said,"According to the postmortem report the victim died of extensive burn injuries."
"There was no indication of the presence of any foreign body, poisoning or suffocation on the body of the woman during postmortem conducted this morning," the doctor said.
On Friday, Dr Shalab Kumar, Head of the Burn and Plastic Surgery Department at the Safdarjung hospital, had said, "Despite our best efforts, she did not survive. Her condition deteriorated towards the evening. She had a cardiac arrest around 11:10 pm. We tried to resuscitate her, but she passed away around 11:40 pm."
The woman's body is being taken to her village in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district in an ambulance.
The brother of the Unnao rape victim said his sister will get justice when all the accused go to the place "where she has gone".
"She told me, brother please save me. I am very sad that I could not save her," he told reporters on Saturday.
He said the persons involved in the incident should be either killed in an encounter or hanged.
They do not have the right to live. "We will go to Unnao from here. She has already been burnt by the accused persons and now, we will burry her," he said.
The woman died on a day four accused in the gang-rape and murder case of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad were killed in an 'encounter' with the Telangana police.
The Unnao rape victim was set on fire when she was on her way to Raebareli in connection with the court case filed by her.
She was airlifted to Delhi after being shifted from a local hospital to Lucknow.
