A 35-year-old complainant in a gangrape case was forced to drink acid while on a train to Lucknow on Friday and is in critical condition. The police said they arrested the accused later in the day after she named them. The woman had approached the police at Lucknow railway station after the attack and wrote down a complaint as she was unable to speak.
The woman said she has been attacked multiple times with acid in the eight years since she was raped as part of a property dispute over her home in the Raebareli district. The trial in the case has not yet begun, NDTV reported. Her family claims she has been threatened by the accused repeatedly since she filed the complaint.
Leaders from the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh, including Chief Minister Adityanath, met her on Friday and were quick to use the case as an example of lawlessness under the previous Samajwadi Party government. Adityanath announced compensation of Rs 1 lakh for her. BJP minister Ritu Bahuguna Joshi said, “There was no hearing of the case for years. We have been in charge for a week and we will not tolerate all this.”
The woman works in a cafe in Lucknow run by survivors of acid attacks.
Meanwhile, three constables were suspended for a taking a selfie while sitting next to her in hospital.
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