Horror in UP continues as woman gang raped, then set on fire in Etah district

Etah (Uttar Pradesh), June 20 (ANI): In yet another shocking incident in Uttar Pradesh, a 35-year old married woman was allegedly gang raped by five men and then set on fire in Etah district late last night.

Her family alleged that she was first gang raped by these five men, and then lynched, as they were afraid of being identified.

According to reports, the five men barged into the woman's house and repeatedly raped her. The woman had identified the locals, thus the accused poured petrol over her body and burnt her alive.

"There were five men involved in this case. My sister was sleeping outside her room, when five men barged into the house and tried to strangle her. After strangulating her, they pushed her into another room and each of the five men raped her," said Vir Singh, the raped woman's brother.

"She identified two men, so they got scared and poured petrol all over her clothes and burnt her alive. After they were sure that she had died, they fled from the spot before anyone could catch them," she added.

Etah Police has, however, denied these allegations and termed it to be a case of robbery.

The police said these men wanted to rob the woman off her valuables and there was no attempt to rape the married woman.

"The 35-year-old woman was burnt alive last night. We spoke to her relatives including her brothers. They have informed us that four to five people entered their house to rob them, but since they were locals, the woman identified them and their robbery plan was foiled," said Etah Superintendent of Police (SP) Lakshmi Narayan.

"Since the lady recognised the robbers, they caught hold of her and then burnt her alive. The post mortem report would clear speculation whether the woman died after she was burnt or she had died before," he added.

Uttar Pradesh is on high alert since three rape cases have been reported in the past 48 hours.

On Saturday, two rape cases were reported from the state that included alleged rape on a minor, who was also stabbed in the eye for resisting rape. In another case, a man in Ranipur, Beladi village, allegedly raped a Dalit girl at gunpoint. (ANI)

null