Tribal woman in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district set on fire over land row, critical

Victim’s family says police protection was denied despite its pleas

A 38-year-old tribal woman is battling for life after allegedly being set on fire by a group of people, including two women, for resisting their bid to encroach upon her family land in the Guna area of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.

Rampyari Bai belongs to the Saharia tribe that comes under the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs). Her family claims that it had sought police protection due to threats by the accused but was denied the same.

A video of the incident — in which the woman is seen under fire on a field in Dhanoria village of Bamori — has gone viral. It is not clear if the video was shot by the accused themselves or some passers by.

Ms. Rampyari’s husband Arjun said he saw three fellow villagers — Pratap, Hanumat, Shyam Kirar — fleeing the spot in a tractor along with their family members. His wife later told the police that six persons, including the three mentioned above, one person called Pandit and two women had poured diesel and set her ablaze before escaping.

The spot of the crime is a six bigha land that the victim’s family claims legally belongs to them. On Saturday afternoon, the accused were ploughing the land, when Ms. Rampyari reached the field and objected to it. It was then that they allegedly poured diesel and set her ablaze.

The land, said Mr. Arjun, was allotted to them under a Chief Minister’s welfare scheme launched by the erstwhile Digvijaya Singh government. A dispute with the accused over the ownership of the land was settled by the local administration in their favour in May, he added. Nearly a week before the incident, on June 23, Mr. Arjun had reportedly sought security from the police claiming that his life was under threat. However, no action was taken.

The victim’s husband added that he was attacked by the same set of people earlier too and a First Information Report (FIR) had been filed. However, no action was taken on the matter either.