A 23-year-old woman, who was set on fire by men accused of raping her in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao, died at Delhi's Safdarjung hospital on Friday night. The woman, who had suffered 90 per cent burns after she was set on fire on Thursday, died of a cardiac arrest at 11:40 pm, where she had been air-lifted from Lucknow's SMC government hospital on Thursday evening.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who has faced severe criticism over the incident, said that the case will be heard by a fast-track court. Yogi Adityanath said he is "extremely saddened to hear of the woman's death". "The case will be heard in a fast-track court and strictest of punishment will be given to the culprits," the Chief Minister said in a statement.
The police said that the five men identified as Shubham, Shivam, Harishankar, Umesh and Ram Kishore, had allegedly thrown kerosene on the woman and set her ablaze when she was on her way to a local court for the hearing of a rape case she had filed.
The woman, in her burnt state, was conscious all the way to the hospital, where she gave a statement to the police identifying all five attackers. She told the police that she was thrashed and stabbed before being set on fire near her village by five men, including two she had accused of raping her and their fathers. She was on her way to a court hearing in her rape complaint when the men surrounded her near a railway station.