Set on fire, Unnao rape victim dies of cardiac arrest at Safdarjung Hospital
The Unnao rape victim, who had been battling for life after 90 percent burns, has died of cardiac arrest. The 23-year-old victim was beaten up, stabbed and set ablaze when she was on her way to a court in Rae Bareli to attend a hearing in the rape case. The five men included the two who were accused of raping the woman in December.
She was airlifted to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi for treatment, where she passed away Friday night. According to Dr. Shalabh Kumar, the victim suffered a cardiac arrest at 11.10 pm but she succumbed at 11.40 pm.
The Delhi Traffic Police on Thursday provided a "green corridor" for the hindrance-free movement of the ambulance carrying her from the airport to the hospital. However, doctors at the Safdarjung hospital had hinted at "minimal" chances of her survival.
All the five men involved in Thursday morning's attack were arrested within hours and the victim airlifted in the evening from the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital in Lucknow to Delhi.
With 86 rape cases having been reported in Unnao from January to November this year, this district qualified to be known as the "rape capital" of Uttar Pradesh. Unnao, with a population of about 31 lakhs, is located about 63 km from Lucknow and around 25 km from Kanpur.
According to reports, 185 cases of sexual harassment of women have also been reported from this district during the same period. Some of the prominent cases, apart from that of Kuldeep Sengar and the Thursday's incident in which the rape victim was set ablaze, are the rape of a woman in Purwa for which the FIR was lodged on November 1 this year.
ALSO READ | With 86 cases in 2019, Unnao emerges as Uttar Pradesh's 'rape capital'
ALSO READ | Unnao victim's family backs Hyderabad police encounter
