Two infants suffered serious burn injuries and are in critical condition after two men allegedly set fire to the house of a Dalit minor who had accused them of rape in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao last year, The Hindu reported on Tuesday.
One of the infants was born to the minor who got pregnant after she was raped in February 2022, the police said.
The accused persons, identified as Satish and Arun, have been out on bail since February, according to The Indian Express. The two men, along with another accused Aman, were sent to jail last year in the gangrape case.
The minor’s family has alleged that they were being pressured by the family of the accused – who are also Dalits – to withdraw the case.
In her complaint to the police, the girl’s mother alleged that she and her daughter were beaten by Satish, Arun and five other men.
“They kept threatening us to withdraw the case,” she said, according to the newspaper. “They beat us up and then threw the children [the two infants] in the fire. Me and my daughter’s children got burnt.”
The police said that a first information report has been registered under sections 147 (rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house, etc) of the Indian Penal Code.
Local Circle Officer Santosh Singh said that so far the police have arrested Raj Bahadur, one of the accomplices of the two men accused of rape, reported The Indian Express.
This was not the first attack on the family since the minor girl was raped. On April 13, the girl’s father was allegedly attacked with an axe by her grandfather and uncle, who sided with the accused, , according to PTI. The father was admitted to the district hospital with serious injuries, Singh said.
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