Taking serious note of an incident in which a rape survivor was set ablaze by an accused in Unnao on Thursday morning, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath asked senior officers to visit the spot and submit a report by Thursday evening.
Yogi also ordered that the best treatment to the victim be ensured free of cost. On his intervention, the victim was later air-lifted to New Delhi for treatment.
In a statement issued in Lucknow on Thursday morning, Yogi directed Divisional Commissioner of Lucknow, Mukesh Meshram and IG (Lucknow Range) SK Bhagat to visit Unnao immediately and submit their reports on the incident.
The CM also asked the authorities to approach the court for cancelling the bail of the rape accused and invoke stringent sections of the IPC against them for the gory crime.
The victim is fighting for her life with around 90 per cent burns while all five accused have been arrested. Meanwhile, the incident drew more criticism to the Yogi Government which has been under fire by the Opposition over deteriorating law and order.
Reacting to the gruesome incident, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi trained her guns at Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the poor law and order situation in the State.
"Union Home Minister and UP Chief Minister blatantly lied claiming that law and order situation in the State has improved. Seeing such incidents on a daily basis is enraging," Priyanka tweeted.
In another tweet, the Congress leader posted, "Hurt by the news of health of Unnao victim. Pray to God that the victim gains health soon."
State Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lalu alleged that the Yogi Government had no moral right to continue and should resign at it could not protect the lives of women. He announced that a delegation of the party would soon visit Unnao to probe the matter.
"We will fight in Parliament and on the street for the security of women in the country," Lallu said while alleging that the BJP Government in the State was not serious on women's safety.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also demanded that the Yogi Government stepped down owning moral responsibility.
In a tweet on Thursday, Akhilesh said, "The State Government should take moral responsibility and step down over the daring incident in which the rape victim was torched." The SP chief also appealed to the court to take the incident seriously and direct the Government for adequate security and treatment of the victim.
State Secretary of CPI (ML), Sudhakar Yadav said in a statement that providing justice to rape victims was a remote possibility, but the Yogi Government even failed to protect them till justice was done.
"The latest incident of Unnao is proof of this, in which the accused named in the FIR in connection with the gangrape in March this year, tried to burn the victim, who was fighting for justice," he said.
The CPI (ML) leader said that in the BJP's rule, rapists, criminals had become emboldened enough and there had been tremendous rise in violence against women in the State.
"The figures were testimony to this as in recent incidents in Sambhal and Unnao, attempts were made to burn the rape victims to erase evidence and witnesses," he said.
On the other hand, UP Women's Commission chairperson Vimla Batham asked the Unnao district authorities to send a detail report on the crime.
"We are very serious on the issue and would recommend to the Government to initiate stern action against the culprits," she said.
Earlier, BJP MLA from Unnao Kuldeep Singh Sengar was charged with raping a minor neighbour and latertrying to eliminate her to erase evidence, has been languishing in jail along with his aides.