The family of the Unnao rape victim, who died late Friday, has said that they will not perform the last rites of the deceased 23-year-old girl unless Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister arrives in their village and assures of strict action against the accused.
The body of the rape victim who succumbed to severe burn injuries in a Delhi hospital on Friday night arrived in her native village in Unnao on Saturday.
Her sister said the last rites would be performed only in the presence of CM Adityanath. “I personally want to speak to Yogi Adityanath,” she said.
The deceased victim’s sister also demanded government job for one of the family members as she claimed that her sister was about to get a government job, and she was to join it. She also asked for immediate capital punishment to the accused, reported news agency PTI.
“I didn’t want the government to offer money or a house. I only wanted justice for my daughter,” the father of the deceased young woman was quoted by NDTV as saying.
The district administration is making preparations for the last rites of the young girl. Heavy police presence has been deployed around the deceased woman’s home in her village.
The victim, who had suffered more than 90 per cent burn injuries, was airlifted to Safdarjung Hospital on Thursday evening and was in an extremely critical condition. Later, at 11:40 pm on Friday, she died of cardiac arrest.
The woman, who had survived a brutal gangrape earlier in March, was on Thursday assaulted and set ablaze by five accused in the case in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district when she was on her way to the Rae Bareli court to testify against the men.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath yesterday in a statement said that he is “extremely saddened to hear of the woman’s death” and added that “all the accused have been arrested”. He further said the case “will be heard in a fast-track court and the culprits will be given the strictest punishment”.
A statement issued by the state government said labour minister Maurya handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh as assistance to the father of the victim.
The Uttar Pradesh government has come under fire from opposition as well as general public on the horrific incident.
Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi had attacked the Yogi Adityanath government over the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh after the death of the Unnao rape victim. She visited the victim’s family. “There is no place for women here”, she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Samajwadi Party leader and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav sat on a ‘dharna’ outside Vidhan Sabha in protest against the Unnao rape case yesterday.
Lashing out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh under Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh told reporters that the incident is “extremely condemnable”.
“This is a black day. It is not the first such incident under this BJP government. CM had said in this very assembly that ‘the culprits would be punished’, but they could not save the life of a daughter,” he said.
BSP chief Mayawati, also slammed the UP government saying, “Not a single day goes by without a case of crime against women in Uttar Pradesh.”