Woman stripped, burned after molestation bid

With her husband Sukhbir away in Gurgaon in Haryana where he works with a private firm, Kamlesh had been staying alone with her four kids — two daughters and two sons — for the last year-and-a-half. The four kids, the youngest of whom is only four months old, are now staying with their uncle.

Ten-year-old Khushboo, the eldest, says on Wednesday night, Rakesh, Mahesh and Kuber, their neighbours, ‘‘came and started arguing with my mother about some money my father owed them. They wanted our land in their name.’’ ‘‘When my mother refused, they locked us up in a room. We could hear our mother screaming,’’ Khushboo adds.

Police said Sukhbir had borrowed Rs 20,000 from the accused and mortgaged a land deed. ‘‘When they asked Kamlesh to transfer the ownership of the land on Wednesday, she refused saying she can’t take the decision as her husband was away,’’ SSP Alok Sharma said.

Sources say, the three men later dragged Kamlesh out, and tore her sari and tried to strip her. The victim said in her statement that the accused tried to molest her and she fought back. ‘‘She screamed, but nobody came out as it was midnight. It was foggy and dark,’’ Khushboo recalls. As she raised an alarm, the three brothers poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze. ‘‘With not a cloth on her body, she ran to our house and banged on our door. We opened the door to find her naked and writhing in pain,’’ says Longshvi, wife of Sukhbir’s brother Rambir Singh.

Rambir and his family rushed Kamlesh to the hospital in Shikarpur, about 12 km away . They lodged a complaint around 1.45 am on Thursday and named the three accused.

The victim was later referred to the Bulandshahar District Hospital, where she battled with life for 12 hours before she died around 4.30 pm on Thursday.

‘‘We want justice against the criminals. They have orphaned the poor kids,’’ says Longshvi.

‘‘They have killed our mother and she has been crying for milk. What do I do?’’ asks Khushboo as she tries to silence her crying four-month-old sister Jyoti, while her two brothers, Yogesh, 9, and Jeetender, 5, look on. The police had earlier registered a case of attempt to murder but changed it later to a case of murder.