Hyderabad: A girl, who was set ablaze allegedly by her jilted lover, succumbed to her injuries. She was under treatment till now. According to the police, the boy had an argument with the 16-year-old girl after she told him that she will be marrying someone else, following which, he set her on fire. According to Amberpet police, the victim was alone at her residence when the boy, who works in Golnaka vegetable market, walked into her house around 2 p.m.
“He wanted her to disclose the details of her fiance and when he insisted the girl share her fiance’s phone number, she locked her phone inside a cupboard,” Police Inspector of Amberpet A.P. Anand Kumar said, adding that the victim’s mother was not at the residence when the attempt to murder her took place. The duo then had an argument and the agitated boy picked up a kerosene bottle from the victim’s house and doused her with it. “The nearby stove's burner was already lit and the boy used her chunni and set her on fire,” Amberpet Inspector said, adding that during the incident, the boy also suffered burns.
“After noticing the fire, local people rushed to help the minors and shifted them both to Osmania General Hospital where they were initially undergoing treatment and the girl had suffered 72 per cent burns while the boy suffered 10 per cent burns,” sources said. According to sources, the victim’s mouth was gagged before she was set ablaze. Since the victim’s condition was critical, Amberpet police alerted the Magistrate, who took her dying declaration and a case was registered under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC, which is now altered to Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.
The boy is still undergoing treatment in the hospital. “He has been persuading her to marry him for the past one-and-a- half years. We never thought that he will ever attempt to kill her," the girl’s relatives told mediapersons. Balala Hakkula Sangam, an NGO for children from the city, approached the higher officials and demanded for monetary help to the family of the girl and also that the boy should be given strict punishment.
