Stalker chops off girl’s hand in busy UP market

SHAHJAHANPUR: A 15-year-old girl was chased by a stalker through a busy market in UP ’s Lakhimpur Kheri on Wednesday, pinned to the ground and then attacked with a sword till one of her hands was severed.The assailant, identified as a man named Vinod Chaurasia, had all but hacked off her other hand as well, but was overpowered by the crowd of 200-300 that had gathered at the site. He was subsequently handed over to police.The victim, a Class IX student who remains hospitalised in a critical condition, had reportedly been fending off Chaurasia’s advances for a while. When she reached the milling market area of Fatehpur Saidri around 3pm, Chaurasia, who works at a welding shop nearby, spotted her, but she rebuffed him again. Angry, Chaurasia grabbed a sword he kept at the shop, and charged at her.“One of her hands fell off, while the man kept striking at her other hand even as people overpowered him and rescued the girl from certain death,” eyewitness Akhilesh Rastogi, a local, told TOI.The girl was first taken to the district hospital, but referred to Lucknow as her condition deteriorated. A doctor at the Kheri district hospital said, “She had lost a lot of blood and she was critical. That’s why she was sent to Lucknow for treatment.”Kheri superintendent of police S Chinappa said, “Our priority is the health of the girl, who is in a serious condition. Once her condition improves, we will record her statement, following which the motive of the attack can be clearly ascertained.”The SP’s statement came even as police said the accused had been harassing the girl for the past many days, and she had even complained about it to her parents. Of late, UP has seen some particularly ghastly attacks on women. On August 10, two sisters, Gulshan, 19, and Fiza, 16, were set ablaze by two stalkers when they were asleep at home in Bareilly. Both girls died. The two stalkers were arrested.On August 8, 17-year-old Ragini Dubey was stabbed to death by goons in Ballia as she was going to school on her bicycle.