The mother of a journalist was allegedly set on fire by two cops at a police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki on Monday after she refused to pay a bribe to them to free her husband. The two accused policemen, who have been suspended, claim she had tried to immolate herself.
Nitu Dwivedi reportedly succumbed to her burn injuries early Tuesday morning.
In a statement before a magistrate and the media, she alleged that she had been abused, humiliated and then set on fire when she refused to pay a bribe of Rs 1 lakh to free her husband.
The Lead-up to the Incident
Police say Ms Dwivedi’s husband Ram Narain had been taken to the police station on Saturday night for questioning in connection with a case of firing in Barabanki’s Gaha village.
According to them, when she had come to secure his release, station in-charge Ram Saheb Singh Yadav and sub-inspector Akhilesh Rai humiliated, abused and chased her away. In a fit of rage, she had set herself on fire at the gates of the police station.
The woman’s son had been associated with a Hindi daily and in view of tension over the incident, additional police forces have been deployed in the area.
Ruling Samajwadi Party leader and UP minister Shivpal Yadav said the incident will be probed and strict action will be taken against the guilty.
Previous Case of a Journalist set on Fire
In June, a journalist died in Shahjahanpur after he was allegedly set on fire by policemen. It was alleged that the murder was ordered by a state minister for the reporter’s exposes on him. But a forensic examination later concluded that the burn was self-inflicted. His family, which was pushing for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation, dropped the demand.
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