In another tragic instance of stalking, a 16-year-old Hindu girl lost her life in a shocking incident that occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi district. Currently, the police have apprehended three out of the eight individuals named in the First Information Report (FIR). This case bears a resemblance to the murder of Ankita Kumari in Dumka, who was set on fire by her stalker Shahrukh Hussain in August 2022.
What says the FIR?
The victim’s father, Jitendra Kumar Shukla, lodged an FIR (number: 245/2023) at the Bazarshukla police station in Amethi on October 25. In his statement to the police, Shukla claimed that while he was at the Gramin bank near his house, a relative urgently informed him of a fire at their residence. Upon arriving, he found his daughter, Shivi (16), engulfed in flames. Despite his efforts to extinguish the fire, Shivi succumbed to her injuries. While on the terrace with his daughter, Shukla saw Faizan, Prince Pal, Javed Ahmed, Ram Bahadur, Gufran, and three other unidentified individuals fleeing from the house. He alleges that these men were responsible for his daughter’s death.
Acting on Shukla’s complaint, the police arrested Mohammad Faizan, Prince Pal, and Gufran Hameed on November 1, in Amethi. Efforts are underway to locate the remaining five accused who are currently evading capture. All the apprehended suspects have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 147 (rioting), 306 (abetment to suicide), 354A (sexual harassment), as well as section 7/8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act.
What says the victim’s father?
According to media reports, the victim’s father, Shukla, stated that his daughter had been subjected to molestation by the accused in the past. They had lodged a complaint with the police about this, but no action was taken against the perpetrators.
Shukla also claimed that his daughter harbored aspirations of becoming an IPS (Indian Police Service) officer. On the day of the incident, Jitendra was away at the bank when his nephew urgently informed him that a room on the second floor of their house was on fire. Upon returning, they discovered that his daughter was engulfed in flames. Some individuals managed to escape through the rear exit of the house.
It has been reported that the villagers pressured the family to withdraw the complaint, which emboldened the accused even further. They proceeded to threaten the young Hindu girl and ultimately set her on fire. Her teacher attested to her intelligence, noting that she achieved a remarkable 70 percent in the tenth board exams despite facing poverty, and she aspired to become an IPS officer. Additionally, being the eldest child in the family, the responsibility of lifting her family out of poverty rested on her shoulders.
It’s worth noting that Shukla earns a living as a potato vendor. He dedicated his earnings to his daughter’s education, even forgoing necessary repairs to his leaking roof to ensure her education was not compromised.
Similar cases from the past
In a similar incident nearly a year ago in Dumka district, Jharkhand, a minor Hindi girl named Ankita was brutally killed by her stalker Shahrukh Hussain, who doused her in flammable liquid and set her ablaze.
Ankita died on the intervening night of August 27 and 28.
In the wee hours of August 22, Shahrukh came to Ankita’s house, found her sleeping on a bed near a window, and poured petrol on her, before setting off a lit matchstick.
A first information report (FIR) in the case was registered at Dumka police station on August 23, (number 200/2022). The statement of Ankita, who was admitted to the burn ward of the PJMDT hospital in Dumka that time, was recorded by magistrate Chandrajeet Singh.
Ankita, a 19-year-old student in Class 12, began receiving calls and messages from a man in her neighbourhood about ten days ago. This individual had obtained her contact number from one of her friends. He had been persistently following her, prompting Ankita to confide in her family about the stalker.
On August 22, he made a threatening call, warning Ankita that if she refused to engage with him, he would take her life. Disturbed by this, Ankita informed her father, Sanjeev Singh, of the menacing threat. Singh assured her he would address the matter with the man’s parents the following morning.
However, that very night, at 4 am, while Ankita was asleep near a window, the stalker, Shahrukh, appeared. He proceeded to douse her with petrol, causing Ankita to wake up in agony. To her horror, she discovered that Shahrukh had emptied an entire bottle of petrol on her and was holding a pack of matches. He threw a lit match in her direction. Shahrukh was dressed in a black T-shirt and shorts.
In a state of panic, Ankita screamed and fled towards her father’s room. He promptly attempted to extinguish the flames. With the assistance of concerned neighbours, Ankita was swiftly taken to a hospital.
The police charged Shahrukh with offences under the Indian Penal Code, including section 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc), 307 (attempted murder), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
In a similar case reported in December 2022 from Bihar, a man resorted to pouring petrol on a woman after she attempted to end their relationship. The woman, identified as Archana Kushwaha, was married and a mother of three, while the accused, Danish Alam, was her paramour.
The incident led to the filing of a First Information Report (FIR) at the Kalyanpur police station on December 15, the same day the crime occurred (FIR number 342/2022). The complainant in this case was Archana Kumari herself.
Based on her complaint, Danish was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (causing hurt by dangerous weapon), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 354B (assault using criminal force), 504 (intentionally insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
According to Archana’s statement, she was asleep when Danish forcibly entered her residence carrying a can of petrol. He attempted to assault her. When she resisted, he doused her with petrol and, using a burning wooden log from the earthen stove, set her ablaze. Archana raised an alarm, prompting neighbours and relatives to gather and chase him away.
In a case from Guwahati reported in 2018, a sessions court handed down a death sentence to an accused who set a minor girl (12) on fire after she requested to end their relationship.
District and sessions judge, Nagaon, Rita Kar, imposed the death penalty on Zakir Hussain, 19, after finding him guilty under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
“He was also found guilty under Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 448 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012,” stated the public prosecutor.
However, the court acquitted five other accused – Abdul Rajek, Zubeda Khatun, Muklesur Rahman, Abdul Rashid, and Fakruddin – who had been charged by the police for allegedly harbouring the offender and for tampering with evidence. They were acquitted due to insufficient evidence against them.
The victim was subjected to a heinous assault and set on fire while she was alone at home on March 23. The perpetrators fled the scene, and the girl was rushed to Gauhati Medical College Hospital but tragically succumbed to her injuries the following day.
The accused men were neighbours of the victim, who was a fifth-grade student. A case (number 64/2018) was registered at Batadrava police station, leading to the arrest of the accused on charges of rape, murder, and tampering with evidence.
