A 15-year-old school girl was set ablaze by two unidentified motorcycle-borne men in Agra on December 18. Two days after the incident, the girl succumbed to the injuries. The incident has raised a lot of questions on the state of law and order in Uttar Pradesh. On Saturday, almost hundreds of student came out on the streets to demand justice for the girl.

The class 10th student Sanjali Chanakya was returning from her school on December 18 afternoon when she was set on fire in the middle of the road by two unidentified men on a red motorcycle.

Finding the girl engulfed in flames, a bus driver, Mukesh Kumar rushed for her rescue. He took out the fire extinguisher from his bus and doused the fire. However, till then the girl had sustained 70 per cent of burns.

The girl was quickly rushed to the emergency ward of SN Medical College and Hospital in Agra. But, due to her deteriorating health condition, she was then referred to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi.

The nine kilometres walk from her school, Asharfi Devi Chidda Singh Inter-College in the Naumeel village of Agra district, to her home turned out deadly for Sanjali, who lost her life after fighting for almost two days at the Safdarjung hospital.

“She was popular in her class and had many friends”

According to the victim’s family, Sanjali was a very bright child. She was good at her studies and had “big” plans for her future.

While speaking to the media, the father of the victim, who is a labourer at a factory in Agra said that his children never complained about anything unusual from their school. He said that he has lost her daughter and now all they want is justice from the police. 

According to The Indian Express, hours after the girl’s death, one of her cousin, who was 24-year-old also committed suicide.

“Initially we had registered an FIR under Sections 326-A (punishment for acid throwing) and it will now be updated to Section 302 (murder) against unknown persons,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (Agra) Amit Pathak.

The police also added that they are also looking for possible involvement of the cousin in the entire crime. They said that the timing of his suicide seems suspicious,” said the officer.

The uproar over her death

The tragic incident has sent chills in the entire state. On December 22, Saturday, at least 800 students came on the streets to protest. The children along with many others took out a march to the district collector’s office in Panchkuian, Agra. The protesters chanted slogans of ‘Justice for Sanjali’ and demanded death penalty for the culprits. He claimed that “justice will not be served until Sanjali’s killers are alive”.

While talking to The Print, one of the demonstrators, Somesh Sohni, 21 said, “We demand justice for them (family), and for all students. Tomorrow it could be someone else, and the government must ensure that this never happens again. We want a thorough investigation.”

Another protestor said that it is not about the caste that the girl belongs to but is about women safety in the state. The Bheem Army, a Dalit group, has called for protests in the state demanding compensation for the victim’s family and justice for the girl. Meanwhile, members of the Samajwadi Party staged a candle march in Agra to condemn the incident. 

The investigation is on

According to the media reports, the police have arrested at least six people in connection to the case. However, when The Logical Indian spoke to the Malpura police station head, Vijay Singh, he said that no arrests have been made so far. He added that the police is questioning a few people but have not made any arrest yet. He further denied sharing more information on the case. However, he said that the police are investigating all the angles and is also trying to find out the owner of the lighter, using which the girl was set ablaze. The police said that these Chinese lighters are not very common in use in the village which is why looking in this angle would help in leading the case, as reported by The Times Of India.

The Logical Indian Take

UP administration led by CM Yogi Adityanath needs to bring back its focus to maintaining law and order in the state. After UP police seem to fail to ensure justice to one of their own, the cop who was killed in Bulandshar violence, they have again not been able to catch culprits in the above incident. This incident has spread fear in the village and girls have stopped going to schools. Law and order in the stateares in shamble and there hasn’t been any comment on the incident by the CM.

Also Read: UP: Woman Set Ablaze For Resisting Harassment, Says Police Turned Her Away Twice