Police file case

Anantnag: A 28-year-old, mother of two kids is battling for her life at a Srinagar hospital with more than 80 percent burns after being set on fire, allegedly by her in-laws in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The incident took place in Akura village of Anantnag late Thursday evening, a police official told Kashmir Reader. “The family, of the woman, lives a little away from the locality in Akura at an isolated spot and a lot of time was lost in arranging a vehicle to ferry her to the hospital,” the official said.
He said that the woman was presently under treatment at Srinagar’s SMHS hospital. “I am told she has 80 percent burns,” he added.
The woman, name withheld, has named her husband, mother-in-law and her father-in-law for sprinkling kerosene on her and setting her on fire-after she being beaten.
A video of her making these allegations from a hospital bed has been shared widely on social media.
Following the incident, people in Akura village held nocturnal protests and demanded strict action against the culprits. “The residents hit the streets this morning as well and urged police as well as district administration to carry out a thorough probe into the incident,” a local source told Kashmir Reader.
The protesting locals alleged that the husband of the woman, a tailor by profession, wanted to marry second time. “This might be the reason that he took this inhuman step,” they added.
Police, meanwhile, have taken up investigation into the case and filed a case (FIR number 15-2021). “We are questioning her in-laws. Her husband has been brought to the police station from the hospital and he is being questioned as well,” the police official said.
He said that the couple has two children including an 8-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son. “We are talking to the children as well to understand what transpired Thursday evening,” he said.
He said that the woman has had an altercation with her mother-in-law during the day and the argument ignited again after her husband returned home in the evening.
“We will investigate the case thoroughly,” the police official said.
In November 2019, a similar incident had taken place in Tral area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district where a 30-year-old woman lost her life after being set ablaze by her husband and in-laws.
The statement she gave from a hospital bed was treated as a “dying declaration” and her husband and in-laws were booked for murder.
SSP Anantnag Imtiyaz Hussain assured that the case was being investigated thoroughly. “Let us pray she survives. The case is being investigated meanwhile and facts will be ascertained,” he said.

Suhail A Shah