Her last wish was to live & see her attackers punished: Indian govt promises fast-track trial after rape victim succumbs to burns

An Indian woman who was set on fire by her rapist as she was en route to a court hearing about the crime has died from her injuries. The badly burned victim told her brother that she wanted to live to see her attackers hanged.

The 23-year-old died in a hospital in New Delhi late on Friday night, reportedly as a result of cardiac arrest. She had been doused in kerosene and set on fire the previous day by a group of five men, including her alleged rapist. The woman, from the Unnao district of northern Uttar Pradesh state, was on her way to board a train to attend a court hearing about her rape – which she reported to police in December 2018 – when she was attacked. 

The brother of the rape victim told Indian media that her sister, who suffered burns on 90 percent of her body, had said that she wanted to live so that she could see her attackers punished.

Please save me, I don’t want to die. Those who have done this to me, I want to see them getting a death sentence

The case, which coincided with another rape and murder in Hyderabad, has sparked outrage and calls for justice across India. The regional government has vowed to fast-track the trial against the five men accused of setting the woman on fire.

The victim’s death comes just days after 27-year-old veterinarian Priyanka Reddy was gang-raped and murdered in Hyderabad. Her attackers then burned her body. The suspects were later shot and killed by police, allegedly for trying to escape. Their deaths were praised by many Indians critical of the government’s inaction when it comes to investigating and prosecuting rape cases.

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