Woman who attempted self-immolation outside Supreme Court dies

A 24-year-old woman who allegedly attempted suicide with a man outside the Supreme Court here died on Tuesday, police said. The woman had sustained 85 per cent burns in the self-immolation bid on August 16.

New Delhi: A 24-year-old woman who allegedly attempted suicide with a man outside the Supreme Court here died on Tuesday, police said. The woman had sustained 85 per cent burns in the self-immolation bid on August 16. The man, 27, had suffered 65 per cent burns and succumbed to his injuries on Saturday. Both were admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Deepak Yadav said, 'The woman succumbed to her injuries during the course of treatment on Tuesday.' After the woman and the man attempted self-immolation, the police had registered a case under Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Indian Penal Code. They suspected that the man had convinced the woman to take the extreme step.

They said she was from Uttar Pradesh's Ghazipur and was allegedly raped by Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai in 2019. The MP has been in judicial custody in the case for the last two years. Before attempting suicide, the woman, together with her associate, had recorded a Facebook Live video in which she disclosed her identity and claimed that she had filed the rape case against Rai in 2019.

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She alleged that some senior police officers were supporting the accused. Earlier, a senior police officer had said that the man and the woman took the extreme step as a court had issued a non-bailable warrant against them in a case of forgery for allegedly submitting wrong proof of age in the rape case.

In her Facebook video, the woman had mentioned the warrant and that she had been summoned by the judge. In March, the woman had filed a plea in the Supreme Court, seeking transfer of her rape case from Allahabad to Delhi for a fair trial and claimed that she faced a threat to her life.

Later in August, a local court in Varanasi issued a non-bailable warrant against her in the forgery case based on a complaint filed by Rai's brother.

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PTI