Woman set on fire by drunk husband, dies

SHAHJANAPUR: A woman was beaten up and later set up on fire allegedly by her husband of 15 years in a village in Kanth area of Shahjahanpur on Monday night. According to the couple’s 11-year-old son, his father was under the influence of alcohol at the time of incident. The woman succumbed to burn injuries during treatment in a hospital late in the night.
The 34-year-old victim, Laxmi, had been married to Vineet Kumar, a labourer, 15 years ago and the couple had three children.A few years after their marriage, Kumar became an alcoholic and spent most of his income on liquor, which led to frequent arguments between the two.
Their 11-year-old son, who is an eyewitness in the case, told TOI, “Like other days, my father came back late in the night completely drunk. He scolded my mother and even slapped her many times. Before I could understand what was happening, he poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. I doused the fire but it was late by then. She was more than 50% burnt.”
The accused, however, denied the charge, saying that his wife had committed suicide following a quarrel with him.
Razi Ahmad, station officer of Kanth police station, told TOI, “We have sent the body for post-mortem and the husband has been taken into custody.”