While we were still mourning the death of a 26-year-old Hyderabad Veterinary doctor and Unnao rape survivor, there is another heartbreaking incident that has happened in Bihar.
As per India Today, a woman was admitted to a hospital in Muzaffarpur on Sunday. She was allegedly put on fire by a man who had attempted to rape her but failed.
With 90% burns, the victim is in critical condition and has been admitted to Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur. As this brave woman is battling for life for showing courage to resist rape, we couldn’t wonder how brutal our society has become.
According to the victim’s family, the incident happed on Saturday afternoon when the victim was alone in her house. This is when Raja Rai, the accused, found the victim and tried to rape her. But as she resisted his rape attempt, he set her on fire.
But, this wasn’t the first time, the victim was under threat. As per Opindia, the victim’s mother claimed that Raja Rai was harassing her daughter for the last three years. On several occasions, he had threatened her and her family members. The mother has said that the accused had threatened to kill not only the woman but also her family and her brother who studies in Patna.
She also shared that in the past 3 years, she tried to lodge a complaint with the police 5 times but was unsuccessful.
While sharing her trauma with India Today, she mentioned:
“The accused was continuously torturing my daughter for the last three years because of which I discontinued my daughter’s education after her 12th class. I also tried to complain regarding the accused to the police several times but to no avail. On Saturday when my daughter resisted him, he set her on fire”.
While sharing that the police have arrested Raja Rai, Ganesh Kumar, IG Muzaffarpur shared:
“We have arrested the accused and are questioning him. We have also spoken to the victim and her family. However, there is no evidence with the family to prove that they had complaint to the police earlier regarding the accused”
Even though the rape and murder incidents in Unnao and Hyderabad have sparked anger across the nation, there are still many young daughters and women being set on fire by rapists.
We wonder why authorities only come in action after the accused has either killed the victim or brought the victim so close to the verge of losing her battle of life.
Even in the Hyderabad case, the family of a 26-year-old veterinary doctor claimed that the authorities could have saved their daughter from meeting such a horrendous death if they would have acted in time.
And the pain was no different for the parents of Unnao rape victim who lost their daughter as she gathered the courage to fight for her dignity. She was set on fire by five men, including the two accused of raping her in December last year. These accused were on bail even though the family complained about the constant threats. After struggling for 40 hours with 90% burns, this brave daughter lost her life in hospital on Friday.
It is disheartening to see how even in the 21st century, our brave and courageous daughters are being killed by sex-deprived monsters. All this while our society cries in pain and anger.
At IFORHER, we are wondering – As a parent, we teach our daughters to be brave, to be a fighter. We teach them to fight against crime. But, if our daughters will be burnt down for resisting rape or fighting for dignity, we would feel helpless and hopeless in saving our daughters from these monsters.
