Two infants were in a critical condition Tuesday after a group of men set fire to the home of a minor Dalit girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao, whom two of them had raped last year.
The injured infants include the rape victim’s six-month-old child – born after the 11-year-old was impregnated in the brutal sexual assault – and her two-month-old sister.
The rape victim’s infant son suffered 35 per cent burns and her sister 45 per cent burns in the incident, PTI news agency reported.
“As their condition worsened, both the kids were sent to Kanpur for better treatment,” said chief medical superintendent Sushil Srivastava.
The attack came five days after her father was attacked with an axe by the accused for refusing to withdraw a police case into the gang rape. The girl’s family has accused the local police of shielding the accused.
The two rape accused, recently released on bail, barged into the family’s thatched shed Monday evening with five others, after the Dalit girl refused to withdraw the case.
According to the police, the Dalit girl was subjected to gang rape on February 13, 2022, and subsequently gave birth to a son in September of that year. The victim’s mother further claimed that their house was intentionally set on fire to eliminate her daughter’s infant son.
