India: Rape victim set on fire on way to court by her alleged attacker
The 23-year-old was hit on the head and attacked with a knife to her neck before she was doused with petrol and set on fire.
Thursday 5 December 2019 14:09, UK
A rape victim has been set on fire by a gang of men - including one of her alleged attackers - on her way to court in northern India.
The 23-year-old was walking to the train station in Unnao, in the state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, when she was attacked.
She was hit on the head and attacked with a knife to her neck, The Hindustan Times reported, before she was doused with petrol and set on fire.
"Five people were involved in setting her on fire, including the one who was accused in the rape case," said Superintendent Vikrant Vir.
Police said all the men had been detained.
The woman was taken to a hospital in Lucknow, the state capital, where doctors said she was in a critical condition.
She had filed a complaint with police in March alleging that she had been raped by two men at gunpoint on 12 December 2018.
One of the accused was granted bail last week and the other is on the run, according to local media reports.
The attack comes a week after the alleged gang rape of a 27-year-old vet in the southern city of Hyderabad.
Police said a gang of four men deflated a tyre on her scooter and lured her to a truck yard with the promise of fixing it, before raping and killing her.
Her badly burned body was discovered the next morning under a bridge.
More than 33,000 women were raped in India in 2017, according to the latest official figures.
Uttar Pradesh had the highest number, with more than 4,200 cases of rape reported there that year.
Each case triggers protests across the country demanding tougher penalties for convicted rapists.
There was further fury amid campaigners this week when an Indian film-maker suggested "rape without violence" should be legalised following the attack in Hyderabad.
In a Facebook post which has now been deleted, Daniel Shravan wrote women "should be educated on rapes" and suggested they carry condoms and co-operate to avoid being murdered.
Social media users described his comments as "disgusting" and accused him of "inciting violence against women".