Cops debunk rape complaint, woman immolates self outside Yogi Adityanath's house

A 32-year-old married woman from Barabanki, who was allegedly raped by her maternal uncle, tried to immolate herself near Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's residence in Lucknow on Tuesday. The police had slapped 'weaker' charges against those people who had allegedly raped her.

The incident happened at around noon at the chauraha near the CM's residence. The woman suffered 40 per cent burns and was immediately shifted to Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Civil Hospital. The victim is currently in critical condition.

The woman had earlier alleged that on September 3, the maternal Uncle of her husband and another unidentified person raped her. At that time, the police refused to lodge any complaint under the influence of her rapists. She has since been running door to door of senior police officials but no action was initiated.

Later, on the advice of her relatives, the woman reached Lucknow to lodge her complaint directly with the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during his 'Janata Darbar'. Since the chief minister was not in town, a frustrated woman poured kerosene on her body and walked towards the CM's residence.

According to the police, as per their previous investigation, it was revealed that the woman had not been raped and instead filed a fake case over a monetary dispute. However, after the self-immolation attempt, SP of Barabanki has been asked to review the whole matter.

''During our inquiry, we scanned the CDR of the mobile phones of the accused to find he was not present in or around the area mentioned in the complaint. Even the locals said the allegation was false," Asandara police station officer, Dhirendra Kumar Verma was quoted as saying.

Verma said, ''The woman and her husband had purchased a truck with a bank loan. When they failed to pay EMI, the bank seized the truck. The couple later filed the fake rape case to force the uncle to repay. When we got to know this, we filed the charge sheet against the uncle under IPC section 406 (criminal breach of trust).''

Meanwhile, Additional Director General (ADG), Lucknow zone, Rajeev Krishna said that the SP of Barabanki will review the whole matter. "There won't be any action right now (against police). As per the CrPC and the law, the investigating officer (IO) is the authority to decide."