New Delhi, August 26: A young woman allegedly raped by a BSP MP from Uttar Pradesh and her male associate succumbed to their injuries on Tuesday after they attempted self-immolation outside the Supreme Court premises demanding justice. The two had leveled charges against Uttar Pradesh Police accusing them of harassment and shielding the accused.

Before attempting suicide, the woman, alongwith her associate, had recorded a 1O min long Facebook Live video in which she disclosed her identity and went on to accuse senior police officers of Uttar Pradesh of supporting the accused and harassing her. She named at least five such senior police officers accusing them of conspiring to save the jailed MP. Before pouring kerosene on themselves, just outside Gate D of Supreme Court, they had alleged that they were being framed in a false case.

The Rape survivor had sustained 85 percent burns and the man, 27, had suffered 65 percent burns in the self-immolation bid on August 16. Both, residents of eastern Uttar Pradesh, were admitted to New Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Both were on ventilator support after sustaining burn injuries in the incident but both succumbed to their injuries. “The woman succumbed to her injuries during the course of treatment on Tuesday,” said Deepak Yadav, a senior Delhi police officer; and the man died on Saturday.

The police had earlier registered a case under Section 309 (attempt to commit suicide) of IPC, against the two. The Police suspected the man had convinced the survivor to take the extreme step.

The 24-year-old woman had accused Bahujan Samaj Party MP Atul Rai of Rape in 2019. The MP has since been in judicial custody, for the last two years.

Police feel that the two took the extreme step as a consequence of being slapped with a non-bailable warrant against them. The basis of the warrant was alleged forgery in the submitted proof of age in the same rape case. In her Facebook video, the survivor had said that she had been summoned by a judge.

The Rape Survivor had in March, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a transfer of her case from Allahabad to Delhi as she felt that a fair trial was not possible in Uttar Pradesh and further claimed that she faced a ‘threat to her life.’

Recently, in August, a local court in Varanasi issued a non-bailable warrant against her in a forgery case based on a complaint filed by Rai's brother.

In her complaint filed with the police in March, the woman alleged that Rai had called her to his house to meet his wife on March 5, 2019, but he took this opportunity to force himself upon her when she reached. She also accused the MP of recording the act, as a ploy to blackmail and threaten her against approaching the police.

After the couple’s self-immolation, two policemen - Varanasi Cantt SHO Rakesh Singh and sub-inspector Girija Shankar Yadav have been suspended and departmental action against them has been initiated for deficiencies in the case which was filed against the woman in a bid to harass her.

These actions were taken based on the findings of a two-member team headed by a DG rank officer to probe all cases in relation to the rape survivor and her male associate, formed on August 17 by the Uttar Pradesh government. The two-member team is also investigating allegations made by the survivor against DG Uttar Pradesh Police Recruitment & Promotion Board (UPPRPB), RK Vishwakarma, and additional director general Neera Rawat, and will submit a report within two weeks.

On condition of anonymity, a Delhi Police official shared details of the case, “We are exploring the legal aspects of the case. The Uttar Pradesh police is investigating the FIRs. They had also gone to the hospital last week but were unable to record the statement of the survivor. If need be, we will write to Facebook and use the video to file an FIR.” Meanwhile, police is in touch with the woman’s mother.

The investigations so far reveal that the rape survivor and her male associate knew each other for the past 7-8 years and were active in student politics. Residents of the village in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur, where the man who died hailed from said that he was also a witness in the case against Rai.

Delhi police said that Rai’s brother, Pawan Kumar, had filed a case against the survivor in November 2020 at the Cantonment police station of Varanasi, accusing her of forging documents altering her date of birth. A local court of Varanasi based on the complaint issued a non-bailable warrant against her earlier this month.

Earlier, based on the woman’s appeal to the Supreme Court seeking a transfer of the case against Rai from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi, the Supreme Court had on March 9 stayed the trial and issued a notice to the jailed MP.