In a horrific incident, a tribal woman was allegedly set ablaze by a group of people, including 2 women, over land dispute in Madhya Pradesh's Guna, the police said.
The victim identified as 38-year-old Rampyari Bai belongs to the Saharia tribe that comes under the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs).
A video has went viral on social media, wherein the charred woman was seen crying in pain, with smoke all around her. The accused reportedly filmed the incident and tried to pass it off as an attempt to kill self by the woman.
The person shooting the video was heard saying the woman had torched herself, and let us shoot the video.
The incident took place on Saturday afternoon in Dhanoria village of Bamori, over 200 km from the state capital Bhopal, Guna Superintendent of Police Pankaj Shrivastava said, adding the woman's condition was critical.
Arjun Saharia, the woman's husband, in his complaint said that when he was going to his farm on Saturday afternoon, he saw the three men - Pratap, Hanumat and Shyam Dhakad - and their family members leaving in a tractor. Arjun Saharia then ran towards the field on seeing smoke coming from that direction where he found his wife Rampyari lying there with severe burn injuries.
Guna SP said that according to the preliminary probe, the accused had encroached upon the land of the Saharia couple. In May this year, the court of tehsildar ruled in favour of the Saharia couple and the possession of land was given to them.
“However, on Saturday, when Rampyari went to the farm, she found the accused sowing soyabean crop there. And when she tried to stop them, the accused poured diesel and set her ablaze,” the SP said quoting the complainant.
“We have arrested all the accused and further investigation is on,” the SP said.
