Woman who had set herself ablaze outside Supreme Court dies

The woman was reportedly raped by Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai in 2019

A 24-year-old woman who had set herself on fire along with a man outside the Supreme Court here died on Tuesday, police said.

The body was handed over to her family after post-mortem following which they cremated her at the Nigambodh Ghat here, they said.

The woman had suffered 85 per cent burns in the incident on August 16. The man, 27, had suffered 65 per cent burns and succumbed to injuries on Saturday. Both were admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Deepak Yadav said, "The woman succumbed to injuries during the course of treatment on Tuesday."

Following the incident, police had registered a case under Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. They suspected that the man had convinced the woman to take the extreme step.

Police said she was from Uttar Pradesh''s Ghazipur and was reportedly raped by Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai in 2019.

The MP has been in judicial custody in the case for the last two years, police said.

According to police, before attempting suicide, the woman, together with her associate, had recorded a Facebook Live video in which she disclosed her identity and claimed that she had filed the rape case against Rai in 2019.

She had said that some senior Uttar Pradesh police officers were supporting the accused.

Earlier, a senior police officer had said that the man and the woman took the extreme step as a court had issued a non-bailable warrant against them in a case of forgery for allegedly submitting wrong proof of age in the rape case.

In her Facebook video, the woman had mentioned the warrant and that she had been summoned by the judge, police said.

According to police, in March, the woman had filed a plea in the Supreme Court, seeking transfer of her rape case from Allahabad to Delhi for a fair trial and said that she faced a threat to her life.

Later in August, a local court in Varanasi issued a non-bailable warrant against her in the forgery case based on a complaint filed by Rai''s brother, they said. Following the suicide attempt, two Varanasi policemen including Varanasi Cantt SHO Rakesh Singh and investigation officer Girija Shankar, probing the case of forgery against the rape victim were suspended and an inquiry was initiated into the matter, police had said.