The sight of the rape victim set afire and running for help early Thursday sent shivers down the spine of local people. Ravindra, who sitting by the roadside then, told reporters that he was so frightened that he actually went to pick up his stick.
“It was only when she came nearer that I found she was severely burnt,” he said. She had been calling out for help, he added.
Ravindra said he called police and the woman herself talked on them on the phone.
The police arrived soon and she was taken to the local community health centre, he said. She was later transferred to a district hospital and then to Lucknow.