Found naked along UP highway, college student says set on fire for resisting gang-rape
The girl, a BA second-year student, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Lucknow where she was brought with 72 per cent burns. Villagers had found her without clothes and severely burnt along a national highway in UP's Shahjahanpur.
In Short
- The girl was last seen on the third floor of her college on Monday
- She was found alongside the national highway without clothes, said one villager
- The police have formed three teams and a SOG to probe the case
A college student in Uttar Pradesh has alleged that she was set on fire after a failed attempt to gang-rape her. The girl, a student of BA second-year, is currently undergoing treatment at a government hospital in Lucknow.
The matter first came to light on Wednesday when locals found the girl without clothes and severely burnt along a national highway in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur district. She was immediately rushed to a hospital in the district and later referred to Lucknow with 72 per cent burns.
Director of the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Civil Hospital in Lucknow, Dr SC Saundriyal told news agency PTI that the girl's condition is now stable.
A native of a village in the Jalalabad police station area, the girl's father demanded the arrest of three boys who he claims set his daughter on fire.
What happened
Asked about the case, Superintendent of Police (SP) S Anand said the girl told investigators that three people tried to rape her in a field near Rai Kheda village on Monday. When they did not succeed, they poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze, the girl said.
Prior to the incident, CCTV cameras show the girl talking to her friends outside a classroom on the third floor of her college building before going to the library. The girl said she does not know how she reached the hospital from the third floor of her college building, SP S Anand added.
Part 2/2 . #shahjahanpurpol #UPPolice @Uppolice @dgpup @adgzonebareilly @igrangebareilly https://t.co/C76JiicUIB pic.twitter.com/wgttcue3g9 — SHAHJAHANPUR POLICE (@shahjahanpurpol) February 23, 2021
"Investigations with the help of CCTV footage have found that the girl went out of the college campus from a broken outer wall about 20 minutes after entering the premises and was seen walking alone on a canal road," the Superintendent of Police told news agency PTI.
One of the first people who found the girl, Asif Ali said that she was lying alongside the national highway without clothes. Villagers covered her with a stole before alerting the police, he added.
Police to record girl's statement
The police have already questioned more than a dozen stud4ents of the girl's college, including her friends. A villager from her native village, who received a phone call from her on the day of the incident, has also been questioned.
As many as three teams led by deputy superintendents of police (Dy SPs) and a Special Operations Group (SOG) have been deployed to probe the case. In addition, another team of five policemen led by a Deputy SP has been stationed at the hospital in Lucknow where the girl is undergoing treatment.
. #shahjahanpurpol #uppolice @uppolice @adgzonebareilly @igrangebareilly @dgpup @ANINewsUP @aajtak @News18UP @News18India @bstvlive pic.twitter.com/vfSeXTJbTs — SHAHJAHANPUR POLICE (@shahjahanpurpol) February 22, 2021
The investigating officer (IO) will take up the matter once the girl's statement is recorded, Superintendent of Police (SP) S Anand said.
Chinmayanad connection
The girl is a student of Swami Shukdevanand Post Graduate College, which is run by Mumukshu Ashram Trust of Swami Chinmayanand. A former BJP leader, Swami Chinmayanand was at the centre of a controversy in 2019 after a female student of a law college run by his trust had accused him of sexual assault.
Chinmayanand, however, was released on bail after spending nearly five months in prison as a result of the complainant withdrawing the charges against him.