Don’t want to die before my tormentors are punished: Muzaffarpur girl

PATNA: The 22-year-old undergraduate girl student of Muzaffarpur, who was set ablaze after she allegedly resisted molestation bid and suffered 95% burn injuries in the process on Saturday night, said in her statement to the police on Monday that she wanted to remain alive to see her tormentors getting punished by the court of law.
“I don’t want to die before the perpetrators of the crime are punished by the court.I want to remain alive. Kindly help me so that justice is done,” the girl told the magistrate, Lalita Kumari, who recorded her statement in the presence a woman police officer, Abha Rani, in the intensive care unit of Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) here on Monday.
SHO of women’s police station Abha Rani said the girl has told police everything about the fateful evening. The two women police officers were sent to the hospital to record the victim’s statement at the behest of IG, Tirhut range, Ganesh Kumar, who is monitoring the investigation.
Sharing her trauma, the girl reportedly told the two officers that she was accosted by the prime accused, Raja Rai, and his associate when she had gone to the top floor of her house to fetch bags of wheat. “Raja, who was hiding, suddenly appeared and tried to molest me and then drenched me with kerosene when I resisted. He and his accomplice then pushed me to the ground and set me on fire,” she said in her statement.
When she cried for help, her cousin (sister), whose house is located nearby, rushed to the spot only to see her in flames. However, Raja, pretending to play good Samaritan, tried to douse the flames and took her to a private hospital on a motorbike. “The hospital had no facility to attend patients with burn injuries,” she told the officials.
She was admitted to the SKMCH only when her mother came to Muzaffarpur from Katra. The girl, however, admitted that she knew Raja, her neighbour.
Earlier, SKMCH superintendent Dr Sunil Kumar Shahi had said that the girl was bold enough to deal with the situation. “She appears to be very bold from within. Had it not been the case, she would not have survived,” Shahi had said.
On Tuesday, the girl was shifted to Patna Medical College and Hospital for better treatment. The girl’s brother, who studies in Patna, alleged, “A local neta, who is known to the accused, is trying to hush up the case. He exerted pressure on my close relatives to reach a compromise.”
Meanwhile, IG Ganesh Kumar has set up a three-member special investigation team headed by DSP (Town) Ram Naresh Paswan to probe the case. Police had earlier arrested Raja, son of a property dealer of Muzaffarpur, and sent him to judicial custody.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)