A 23-year-old rape victim was set on fire by a group of men as she made her way to her trial Thursday in Northern India.
One of the men was her alleged rapist, Police claimed, according to a report published Thursday by Reuters.
A 23-year-old girl in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was attacked on the way to a hearing in her rape case when a group of men assaulted her, doused her in petrol then set her on fire.https://t.co/s6Ag5yYQ1V
— DW News (@dwnews) December 5, 2019
“As per victim’s statement five people were involved in setting her on fire, including the one who was accused in the rape case,” Police Superintendent Vikrant Vir told the outlet.
The woman who was set on fire is currently in critical condition at the Civil Hospital in Lucknow. She was on her way to catch a train to the Unnao district in order to get to a hearing. The victim was doused with kerosene and set on fire, police claimed.
The woman had filed a complaint in March alleging she had been raped at gunpoint on Dec. 12, 2018. The accused male was reportedly released from prison last week after making bail. (RELATED: India Charges Catholic Bishop With Repeatedly Raping, Intimidating And Illegally Confining Nun)
The area of Northern India where the incident occurred, Uttar Pradesh, is well known for crimes against women. More than 4,200 cases of rape were reported in the state in 2017, higher than anywhere else in the country, Reuters reported.
Even the state government, controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, has been caught up in the crossfire after it was accused of protecting a lawmaker accused of rape.
The burning of the woman has further sparked outrage over how rape cases are handled in India. In the past week, protestors have demanded courts use tougher penalties and quicken rape trials.