A series of horrifying incidents in the months of November and December reiterate what a terrible time it is to be a woman in India. From Unnao in Uttar Pradesh to Hyderabad in Telangana, the convulsions of violence against women are ubiquitous,making women’s safety a matter of grave concern.
On a cold winter day in Unnao, a 23-year-old backward caste woman was beaten up, stabbed and set ablaze by five upper-caste men, two of whom—Shubham Trivedi (25) and Shivam Trivedi (24)—she had accused of raping her on December 12, 2018. Shivam Trivedi, who was behind bars in connection with the rape case for two and a half months, was released on bail on November 30. Immediately after coming out, he started to follow and threaten her. The girl, along with her family, visited the police station close to Sindupur village several times but the police did not take any action.
On December 5, she was on her way to the court when the two accused, along with their fathers Harishankar Trivedi, and Ram Kishore Trivedi respectively and an associate, Umesh Bajpai, accosted her. She was set aflame and she ran for almost a kilometre screaming before people rushed to her help and took her to a community health centre nearby. According to eyewitness reports, she called a helpline number from somebody’s mobile phone and informed the police about the incident. It is only after receiving her call that an ambulance and the police response vehicle arrived at the scene.
Given the nature of her burns, she was shifted to the district hospital and from there to Syama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital in Lucknow before being air-lifted to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, where she breathed her last. She had suffered 90 per cent burn injuries.
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