Two Varanasi policemen have been suspended after a woman, who had accused BSP's Ghosi MP Atul Rai of raping her, set herself ablaze along with a companion, before the Supreme Court earlier this week, an official said on Wednesday. The suspended police officials are SHO Rakesh Singh of the Varanasi Cannt police station and investigation officer Girija Shankar, probing a case of forgery against the rape victim, police said in a statement.
A woman from Ghazipur in UP had lodged a complaint with the Lanka police station in Varanasi in 2019, accusing BSP MP Rai of raping her. She had alleged that Rai had raped her in his flat in Lanka area and had also shot a video of the act. Rai is under judicial custody in this case.
The victim and the man took the extreme step after a court issued a non-bailable warrant against them in a case of forgery for allegedly submitting the wrong proof of her age in the rape case. The two doused themselves with petrol and set themselves afire before the apex court after going live on Facebook, accusing Varanasi's former Superintendent of Police Amit Pathak, SHO Singh, IO Girija Shankar and other police officials of harassing them at the behest of the jailed MP.
The 24-year-old woman suffered 85 per cent burns in the immolation bid while the 27-year-old man suffered 65 per cent burns. Both the victims are undergoing treatment in New Delhi with none of them being able to record their statements presently.
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