Fatehpur woman allegedly raped, set ablaze dies of burns in hospital

An 18-year-old woman, whose family had alleged that she was raped and set ablaze in Fatehpur, succumbed to her burns at a hospital here, officials said.

The police had registered an FIR last week under sections relating to rape and attempted murder after the incident, but are also investigating the claim that she set herself afire after a village panchayat put an end to her relationship with a relative.

"She had suffered from organ failure including lungs and kidneys following serious injuries and we tried to resuscitate her, but she could not survive and died," Head of the department (surgery) at the hospital, Sanjay Kala said.

The body has been sent to the mortuary for autopsy.

The rape victim, who had over 90 per cent burns, had been on ventilator support since Tuesday due to continued multi-organ dysfunction. She was having problems while breathing too, Kala said.

"She was almost unconscious since Wednesday evening and took her last breath at around 6:30 am, he said.

"The patient had remained in an extremely critical condition since admission to LLR hospital," Kala said, adding that a team of several doctors tried to keep her stable, but her condition continued to deteriorate over the last two



days.

An FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by the woman's family last week and an accused was arrested for rape and attempt to murder, according to Fatehpur SP Prashant Verma.

The attempt to murder charge was being converted to murder, police said.

Additional Director General of Police (Allahabad zone) Sujeet Pandey had earlier said it was the woman who allegedly set herself ablaze when a 'panchayat' did not approve of her relationship with a distant relative.

When the matter of her relationship with the distant relative came to light, a panchayat was held in her village during which the woman and the man were made to take a pledge that they would live separately and not meet each other.

Upset over the panchayat's decision, the woman rushed to her house at a village in Fatehpur and allegedly set herself ablaze, he had said.

District Magistrate Fatehpur Sanjeev Singh had said upon noticing smoke, villagers rescued the woman and took her to a local community health centre.

On December 5, a rape survivor from Unnao was set ablaze by five people, including two accused of raping her. They were arrested the same day. The woman later died during treatment in a Delhi hospital.