Woman who accused BSP MP of raping her dies a week after setting herself on fire

A woman who had accused Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai of raping her in 2018 died at a hospital in Delhi on Tuesday, more than a week after she set herself on fire outside the Supreme Court with a friend, PTI reported.

The 24-year complainant and her friend had been admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi. “The woman succumbed to her injuries during the course of treatment on Tuesday,” Deepak Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), told the news agency.

The woman’s friend had died on Saturday, according to The Indian Express. “We performed surgeries on them the day they were brought to us, but they had severe burn injuries and treatment was difficult,” an unidentified official at the hospital had told the newspaper. “They suffered organ failure.”

The police had filed a first information report against Rai in May 2019, according to the newspaper. In June, Rai was sent to judicial custody. The case is still pending in a court in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj district.

The woman had repeatedly alleged that Rai’s associates harassed her and her family. Before setting herself on fire in Delhi on August 16, the woman, in a Facebook live, had also accused the Uttar Pradesh police of helping Rai.

“They have issued a…

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