25-year-old Delhi woman set on fire for refusing marriage proposal by neighbour

In a horrific incident, a 25-year-old woman in Delhi was set to flames by her neighbour in Mukundpur area on Saturday after she turned down his marriage proposal and accused him of harassment. 

According to police, the family of the accused also allegedly assaulted the woman’s mother, brother and his friend in their house.

The incident took place at the victim’s home in northwest Delhi’s Bhalswa Dairy area, when the accused, Abhishek along with his friends Vijay, Karan and few others went there and started beating the woman’s relatives.

A relative of the victim, Gita said that whenever the girl used to go out, the boys used to harass her. 

“It had been seven-ten days since they began troubling her. Still she used to ignore them. When she could not tolerate further, she told this to her brother, who asked him to stay away from her. The harassing stopped for a few days, but then it started again,” she told a news agency.

Gita said the accused’s name is Abhishek and that he stays in the neighbourhood.

“20-25 men came and started beating us with rods. Abhishek’s four-five uncles were also there and with his friends as well. Abhishek started threatening the girl but she refused to marry him. He then poured kerosene on her, set her on fire and ran away,” she added.

Gita further stated that there is no hope for the girl’s survival, as 95 percent of her body is burnt. 

“Abhishek used to threaten her that if she doesn’t get married to him, he will set her on fire and saying that if she did not belong to him, then he would not allow her to be someone else’s. Both the brother and the sister are in pain. They (accused) should also be in agony right now so that they don’t do it again in future,” she added. 

The police have arrested the three accused under Sections 307, 452, 323 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Further probe into the matter is going on.