A 22-year-old Dalit woman died after allegedly being raped by two men in Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh, a shocking incident that comes amid a nationwide outrage over the death of another gangrape victim from Hathras in the state.
Both the accused in the Balrampur incident have been arrested, police said.
Talking to reporters in Balrampur on Wednesday night, the victim”s mother claimed that the rapists broke the legs and back of her daughter, a charge denied by the police.
“My daughter had gone to take admission in a college on Tuesday. On her way back, three-four persons abducted her, took her to their room, gave her an injection and raped her. They later sent her back on an e-rickshaw, which dumped her outside our house. They broke her legs and back, she could not stand or talk,” the victim”s mother said.
Quoting the victim”s family members, Balrampur Superintendent of Police (SP) Dev Ranjan Verma said the woman, who worked in a private firm, returned home in a serious condition on Tuesday.
She looked dazed and had an intravascular cannula, medically known as Vigo and used for administering an injection or other fluids in the body, inserted in her hands. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, but died on the way, the SP said.
When the matter was reported to the police by the hospital, her parents alleged that she was gangraped, he added.
Acting on her parent”s complaint, the police identified the accused as Shahid and Sahil and arrested them, the SP said.
About the reports that the victim”s legs and back were broken, he said, “It was not confirmed in the post-mortem. We contradict this news.”
The victim was cremated on Wednesday after the post-mortem in the presence of her family members, the police said.
The district magistrate and the SP, along with the mahant of the Devipatan temple, Mithilesh Nath Yogi, visited the victim”s house on Thursday morning, met the family members and condoled her death.
“The family members were assured that the accused will be given a strict punishment in accordance with law. A letter sanctioning a financial assistance of Rs 6,18,450 was handed over to them by the mahant. The amount will be sent to the victim”s mother”s bank account by the afternoon,” a statement issued here said.
Meanwhile, the victim”s mother has demanded a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and a government job for her son.
“My daughter wanted to become a lawyer but she was killed. The same fate should await the culprits. We want justice. My son should be given a government job and we should get at least Rs 25 lakh as compensation,” she said.
Reacting to the incident, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav wrote on his Twitter handle on Wednesday night: “After Hathras, now a daughter was harassed and gang-raped in Balrampur. The victim died in serious condition. Condolences!”
“The BJP government should commit no laxity in this case as was done in Hathras and arrest the accused immediately,” he added with hashtags #Balrampur and #NoMoreBJP.
The Balrampur incident comes at a time when there is a nationwide outrage over the Hathras gangrape.
A 19-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly raped by four upper-caste men in Hathras on September 14 and referred to the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi on Monday with spinal cord injuries, paralysis and cuts in her tongue. She died at around 3 am on Tuesday.
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