Rape survivor dies in Delhi hosp 8 days after setting herself on fire at UP thana

Bijnor: Days after a rape survivor set herself ablaze at a police station in UP’s Bijnor over “inaction by cops against Armyman”, the 22-year-old woman died at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital on Monday night.

After the news of her death, police have arrested the accused Armyman’s uncle and mother, while the then station in-charge has been suspended.Circle officer Abhay Kumar Pandey said on Tuesday: “The woman died after battling for life at the hospital for eight days. Two accused have been arrested while the remaining will be held soon. The main accused and his brother are Armymen. One of them is posted in J&K.” The postmortem was carried out in Delhi on Tuesday, and the body will be brought back to Bijnor, police said.According to police, the woman had filed a rape case under IPC 376 and Pocso Act in 2024 against five people, including a woman, alleging that she was sexually assaulted on Dec 26, 2022. However, investigators said call detail records and other evidence did not corroborate her allegations, following which a final report was submitted before the court on Sept 1, 2024.One of them named by the woman was her friend, an Armyman. Frustrated over the alleged “police inaction for months”, she poured petrol on herself in front of the station inspector at Bijnor thana on the night of June 21. She suffered over 60% burns and was first taken to Meerut and the next day shifted to Delhi in a critical condition.