Hathras gangrape victim succumbs in Delhi hospital

A 19-year-old Dalit girl who was attacked and gang-raped on September 14 died at Safdarganj hospital during treatment. The victim was admitted to the ICU of hospital in an extremely critical condition.

Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh):A 19-year-old Dalit rape victim, who was gang-raped and left paralysed by four upper-caste men, died a fortnight after the attack in a Delhi hospital on Tuesday.

She was shifted to the Safdarjung Hospital in the national capital on Monday evening after her condition deteriorated.

On September 14, the victim was dragged by the dupatta around her neck to a field when she had gone to collect cattle fodder, which injured her spinal cord. When she was held down, she apparently bit her own tongue which caused a deep cut

Fakhrul Hoda, head of neurosurgery at the Aligarh hospital where she was being treated, told reporters that "Surgery to fix her spine could only have been done after her condition improved. The damage to the spinal cord appeared to be permanent."

Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal termed the death of Hathras gangrape victim a matter of shame for the country as well as for the governments and demanded the hanging of the guilty.

The 19-year-old Dalit woman died at a Delhi hospital on Tuesday morning, days after being raped by four men in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, a senior police officer said.

"The death of Hathras victim is shameful for the entire society, country as well as for all the governments. It's highly sad that so many daughters are being sexually assaulted and we have not been able to protect them. The guilty must be hanged at the earliest," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

The victim, youngest of five siblings, was on life support for some time. The girl was referred to Delhi on Monday on her father's request. Her brother accompanied her to Delhi.

A week after she was hospitalised, the girl told the police that she had been raped by four men whom she also named.

All four accused she named -- Sandip, Ramu, Lavkush and Ravi -- were arrested for gang rape, attempt to murder and under sections of the SC/ST Act.

Her father had told reporters on Sunday that the families of the four accused have been threatening them for speaking out. The girl had also told her family that the four men had threatened her with dire consequences if she informed anyone about the incident.

IANS REPORT.