Unnao Rape Victim Died Due To 'Extensive Burn Injuries, Suffocation,' Reveals Autopsy

Aflame, she ran for a kilometre. On Friday at 11:40 pm, the gutsy, young woman from Unnao who survived rape and all other societal pressure, lost the battle for life and succumbed to her injuries at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi. Now, the post-mortem report reveals that the woman died due to ‘extensive burn injuries and suffocation.’ The autopsy ruled out any kind of poisoning. The woman had suffered 90 per cents burns after the rape accused set her ablaze on December 5. All five men are now under arrest and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has assured fast-track trial and justice to the woman’s family.

The young woman was raped in 2018. The rape survivor was airlifted to a Delhi hospital after she was set ablaze allegedly by five persons, including two men accused of raping her. Two of them were accused of raping her last year. One of the two was arrested then but recently let out on bail, police said. The rape victim was on her way to Rae Bareli to attend a court hearing when she was attacked.

"She suffered the cardiac arrest at 11.10 pm and we tried to resuscitate her, but she could not survive, and at 11.40 pm, she died," Dr Shalabh Kumar, HOD (burns and plastic) at the Safdarjung Hospital, said.

She was extremely critical and was put on ventilator, with 95 per cent burn injuries. The Delhi Traffic Police on Thursday provided a "green corridor" for hindrance-free movement of the ambulance carrying her from the airport to the hospital.

Earlier in the day, the five accused were produced before a court in Unnao and remanded in 14-day judicial custody. All the five accused were produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Virat Saxena amid tight security and were sent to Unnao jail under judicial custody, said Inspector Ajay Kumar Tripathi, the in-charge of Bihar police station, where the burning case was registered.

Unnao Additional Superintendent of Police BK Pandey said efforts will be made to take them in police remand for custodial interrogation and gather evidence in the case.

The police had arrested the two rape accused, Shivam and Shubham, and their three accomplices in setting the girl aflame on the basis of the victim's statement.

In her statement to Sub Divisional Magistrate Dayashankar Pathak, the victim had said she was abducted and raped by Shivam Trivedi and Shubham Trivedi in December 2018 and the trial of the case is going on in a Raebareli court.