Mob fury in UP after woman is kidnapped and gang-raped, then burned alive for threatening to report her attackers



Large-scale violence erupted in the Sikandararau area of Hathras district in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, following the death of a woman who was gang-raped and burnt alive by her attackers on Monday.



Police said an irate mob threw stones and set fire to over a dozen of vehicles. The police reportedly fired blanks in the air to disperse the protesters.



Over a dozen demonstrators and policemen sustained injuries.



A mob set vehicles on fire in protest against the gang-rape and murder of a Dalit woman in Hathras

A 26-year-old dalit married woman was kidnapped by a gang of three men from her in-laws' house in Jaswantnagar in Etawah district on July 11.



Later, the assailants brought her to a house in Sikandararau area and raped her. After the attack, the miscreants dumped the victim near her mother's house in the same area.

The rapists once again assaulted her on Monday before setting her on fire because she was planning to approach the police.



She was taken to a local hospital by some Bajrang Dal leaders on Monday July 14, where she succumbed to burn injuries on Monday night.

Subsequently, the family, relatives and neighbours of the deceased resorted to violence, raising anti-police and anti-government slogans.



In fact, the deceased told the mediapersons before her death that the rapists assaulted and tortured her.

"Seven youths of Sikandararau kidnapped me in the night of July 11, brought me here and gang-raped in a house for two days. Then they threw me near my mother's house as my father had died two years ago.



"My mother tried to conceal the incident with the hope that my husband will accept me when I go back to him. But I was thinking to register a case with the police. These rapists attacked me again on Monday, sprinkled kerosene and set on fire," she was quoted as saying.



She also registered a statement before the magistrate prior to her death.

Meanwhile, the situation in Sikandararau is taking on a communal character as the accused reportedly belonged to the Muslim community.



Ranjan Arya, a Bajrang Dal leader, who had taken the victim to hospital, said: "The SP government has given standing order to the police to go slow on the criminals of minority community. This is why the police are punishing the protesters instead of the rapists."

Vijendra Tomar, Circle Officer of Sikandararau, said: "Huge police and paramilitary force have been deployed in the areas to maintain peace. We have also constituted several teams to arrest the accused."

Delhi doctors may conduct second autopsy

By Piyush Srivastava in Lucknow

The CBI on Tuesday formed a team of doctors to study the postmortem report of the two minor girls who were allegedly raped and hanged to death at Katra Sadatganj village in Badaun district on May 27.

In addition, the CBI asked the Badaun administration to ensure the protection of the graves of the victims, who were buried on the banks of river Ganga.



A source in the CBI told Mail Today that a team of doctors from Delhi would be in Badaun on July 17 to take a final decision about the second autopsy of the victims.



"A team of three doctors will reach Badaun on Thursday and hold a meeting with the doctors who had conducted the first postmortem of the victims on the night of May 27. Our objection is that the postmortem cannot be done after sunset in any situation. But the norm was ignored. The report mentions injuries on the internal parts of the victims but remains indecisive about the rape. This is the reason that we think to exhume their bodies and conduct a second postmortem," said an officer.



A CBI sleuth will visit Katra Sadatganj on Thursday and meet the family members of the Yadav brothers, who have been charged for raping and killing the two girls.



Pappu Yadav, Avadhesh Yadav and Urvesh Yadav were arrested after the incident.

