Protests In Delhi, UP Intensify As Unnao Rape Victim Passes Away; Candle March Held At Raj Ghat

Despite UP government announcing a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and a house for the family of the rape victim, people in large numbers are holding protests against the rising rape and violence cases against women across the country.

Indian Youth Congress (IYC) activists raise slogans during a candlelight march demanding justice for rape victims, at UP Bhawan in New Delhi. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi/ Lucknow: Hours after the Unnao rape victim, who was airlifted to Delhi and admitted to Safdarjung Hospital with 90 per cent burns after being set afire by the accused, died following a cardiac arrest at 11.40 pm on Friday, protests are being held in several locations of Uttar Pradesh and even in the national capital. Despite UP government announcing a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and a house for the family of the rape victim, people in large numbers are holding protests against the rising rape and violence cases against women across the country. Protests were held on Saturday evening in Unnao as UP ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Kamal Rani Varun along with local Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sakshi Maharaj reached the village of the Unnao gangrape victim to meet her family. Candle light march was held around Delhi's Jantar Mantar demanding justice for the victims and safety of women in the country. The candle march was organised from Raj Ghat to India Gate in Delhi in support of DWC chief Swati Maliwal who is sitting on indefinite hunger strike against rape incidents happening across the country. However the police was trying to stop the march and later retorted to water cannons to disburse the crowd. Meanwhile, even in Lucknow, police lathicharged Congress workers who staged a protest against the government in Hazratganj.

Delhi: Protesters who are holding a candle march from Raj Ghat to India Gate try to jump barricades. https://t.co/7eJ9NwQheW pic.twitter.com/oe8sMiXviK

— ANI (@ANI) December 7, 2019

"Inhone mashaal jalayi hui thi toh woh police personnel pe mashaal aag phek rahi thi toh usko bhujane ke liya use kiya. Unke pass yahan (near Arun Jaitley Stadium) se aage jane ki permission nahi hai. [People in candle light had fire torches in their hands from which they were throwing fire at the police personnel and thus they had to use water cannon to stop them. These people do not have permission to go beyond Arun Jaitley Stadium]", said MS Randhawa, PRO, Delhi Police. A number of protestors including some local Congress leaders sustained injuries as police used force to disperse the crowd which gathered outside the residence of the victim and shouted 'Vaapas Jaao, Vapaas Jaao' (Go Back) and raised slogans against the state government and Sakshi Maharaj. The sloganeering continued for 15 minutes. Police used force against the protesters after which the two ministers and the MP could be taken to the victim's home, villagers said. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday expressed grief over the death of the Unnao rape victim. He said that the government will try to punish the accused as soon as possible by taking the matter to a fast track court. The Chief Minister, in a statement, said: "The incident is very sad and unfortunate" and expressed his condolences to the family of the victim. WATCH | SP, Congress workers hold protest outside BJP office in Lucknow The postmortem of the Unnao rape victim showed that she died of extensive burn injuries, a senior doctor at the Safdarjung hospital told news agency PTI. "Despite our best efforts, she did not survive. Her condition deteriorated towards the evening. She had a cardiac arrest around 11:10 pm. We tried to resuscitate her, but she passed away around 11:40 pm," a doctor said. The victim's body was then taken to her village in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district in an ambulance. The brother of the Unnao rape victim said his sister will get justice when all the accused go to the place 'where she has gone'. "She told me, brother please save me. I am very sad that I could not save her," he told reporters on Saturday. The victim was attacked outside the Sindupur village in Unnao when she was on her way to a court in Rae Bareli to attend a hearing in the rape case. She was abducted by the five men Harishankar Trivedi, Ram Kishore Trivedi, Umesh Bajpai, Shivam and Shubham Trivedi. She was beaten, stabbed and burnt and was left to die. However, she stood up and walked up to a kilometre to a person who was working outside a house and sought help. She made a call to the police herself. She was rushed to a nearby hospital from where she was referred to the civil hospital in Lucknow where she was admitted in a plastic surgery burn unit. The victim's statement was recorded there.