Chennai: A 21-year old woman was set afire allegedly by a former schoolmate for declining his marriage proposal, police said on Tuesday.
The victim’s sister and mother suffered severe injuries when they tried to save her, police said, adding the duo is admitted in a hospital in critical condition.
S Induja, a B Tech graduate and working with an IT firm, died on the spot after Aakash (22) set her ablaze at her residence on Monday night. The man has been arrested and was produced in a court on Tuesday.
According to the police, Aakash, a college dropout, and Induja had studied in the same school. He had been pestering Induja to marry him.
On learning that her family was looking for a groom for her, Aakash went to Induja’s residence last night and once again proposed to her.
She rejected the proposal and shouted at him. Enraged, Aakash allegedly doused her in kerosene, set her on fire and fled from the spot, police said.
“Aakash decided to make his marriage proposal to Induja for one last time yesterday. He had made up his mind that if she did not agree to it, she should not marry anyone else,” a senior police official said.
Demanding a strong punishment to the offender, PMK chief S Ramadoss said it was a “matter of concern that the government has not taken any steps to rein in violence against women, staged in the name of ‘one-side love'”.
Recalling a host of similar incidents in Tamil Nadu, including the murder of a software engineer (Swathi) at a railway station here last year, the PMK leader said “stringent punishment must be given to stalkers of women”.
He also mooted a separate wing in police comprising women to curb crime against the fairer sex.
