A day after a 24-year-old lady lecturer was set ablaze by her spurned suitor near her college at Hinganghat in Maharashtra’s Wardha district, the badly burnt victim battled for her life at a Nagpur hospital on Tuesday, even as the taluka town erupted in anger and the victim’s aggrieved parents said that the accused deserved to be burnt alive.
The victim woman, who was initially rushed to a Primary Health Centre at Hinganghat and later shifted to the specialized Orange City Hospital & Research Institute (OCHRI) at Nagpur after her Oxygen levels went down in her blood, is currently on a ventilator. Doctors attending on her at OCHRI described her condition as “very critical”.
The victim woman suffered nearly 40 per cent burns after the accused Vicki Nagrale (27) -- who was laying in wait for her near college at Hinganghat – took out petrol from his two-wheeler and poured it on her and set heron fire, at around 7.30 am on Monday. After she shrieked for her, the bystanders doused the burning victim woman with water and extinguished the fire. By then, she had been badly burnt.
“The woman has suffered deep burns on her face, scalp, neck, right shoulder, left hand, upper back, eyes and respiratory system. She has suffered 35 to 40 per cent Grade III deep dermal burns with respiratory distress and inhalational injuries with related complications,” OCHRI Director Anup Marar said.
The victim woman underwent a tracheostomy, debridement, escharectomy and burns dressing on Monday. “She is very critical. She is holding onto her vital parameters with intensive care and oxygen support of five litres per minute. Next 72 hours are very crucial for her. It is only after that will be able to speak in certain terms about her health. Our expert doctors are monitoring her condition,” Dr Marar said.
In a related development, thousands of people — including women, school children and senior citizens —took out a morcha to local revenue authorities’ office at Wardha on Tuesday morning to demand that the accused be hanged forthwith. Leaders of all political parties had joined the protest.
“The man, who burnt my daughter and reduced her to such an unbearable state she is in today, should be burnt alive. He should undergo the agony that my daughter is currently undergoing,” the victim woman’s mother said.