Another dalit girl burnt in MP

Bhopal, Mar 08: A minor dalit girl, who was burnt by four miscreants for protesting eve-teasing, died last night in Shahgarh area of Sagar district. The girl was facing indecent behaviour of the offenders for the past one month, police said. She was undergoing treatment for the past three days after she was set afire for protesting against eve-teasers who had tried to molest her. 

Police said Shahgarh-resident Vineeta, (17), was set afire by the eve teasers on Tuesday and she was battling for life in the district hospital with third degree burns but she could not be saved. SDOP Ashish Khare said, “Four persons Jaggi, Kallu, Manoj and Prajapati passed some lewd comments Vineeta while she was returning home Tuesday evening. When she protested, the foursome doused her with kerosene and set her on fire.”

The police registered a case for attempt to murder and violating the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and took two, of the four, accused into custody. The remaining two are still at large. The girl told the police that she had gone to answer the nature's call on the outskirts, when the foursome tried to molest her sexually and when she resisted, they doused her with kerosene and set her ablaze. The police said that the four accused and the victim's family had old enmity and had lodged several complaints against each other.

This was the second case of a dalit girl being burnt alive, for protesting eve teasing, in the past one week. In the earlier case, more than eight persons had burnt alive another dalit girl, Pooja Chowdhary, in Sihora town of Jabalpur district last Sunday after she opposed their bid to molest her sexually. In this case also though the police named eight persons, they could arrest only six of them while the main accused is absconding.