New Delhi: According to police reports, a 27-year-old man and a woman allegedly attempted suicide outside the Supreme Court here on Monday by setting themselves on fire.
The man sustained 65 percent burn injuries, while the 24-year-old woman suffered 85 percent burns. The police remarked that neither of them is medically fit to record their police statements. The police said the woman is from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur and was allegedly raped by Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai in 2019.
The MP was subsequently arrested and has been in judicial custody in the rape case for the last two years.
Before attempting suicide, the woman, together with her associate, recorded a Facebook live video, in which she disclosed her identity and alleged that she had filed the rape case against Rai in 2019. She also alleged that some senior police officers and others were supporting the accused.
The prima facie evidence shows that the man and the woman doused themselves with kerosene and set themselves ablaze. Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Deepak Yadav said a police team deployed at the spot rushed with blankets to save them. The fire was doused and the victims were rushed to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for treatment, he added.
An inquiry is underway to ascertain the exact reason, but the police suspect that the woman attempted suicide as she feared being farmed in fraud cases by the accused party.
In the live Facebook video, she claimed that a non-bailable warrant has been issued against her by a local court in UP and that she was summoned by the judge. In March, the woman had filed a plea in the Supreme Court, seeking transfer of her rape case for a fair trial from Allahabad to Delhi on grounds of threat to her life.
Later in August, a local court in Varanasi issued a non-bailable warrant against the woman in a case of forgery based on a complaint filed by the accused MP’s brother.