The self-immolation attempt by a mother and daughter in Lucknow has been dubbed a ‘conspiracy’ by Lucknow’s Police Commissioner Sujeet Pandey. Addressing the media on Saturday, Pandey said, “It has come to light that it (the self-immolation) was done as per a criminal conspiracy in which some people played key roles in instigating the women. We have registered FIR against four people, including an AIMIM leader Kadir Khan and a Congress leader Anup Patel.”
The FIR has been filed under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life and Section 7 of the Criminal Amendment Act.
Four police officers, including the sub-inspector in-charge of the police station under which the duo’s village falls in Amethi, have been suspended for not taking action on the complaint by the women that a neighbour was harassing them over a common drain. The suspended include a head constable and two women constables.
As per the police, a phone call was made from the Congress office in Lucknow to a media person asking for coverage of the incident. This was revealed to the police by the media person in question. The women had gone to the Congress state headquarters in Lucknow before the immolation bid on Friday evening.
The women were instigated to immolate themselves in front of gate number three of the Lok Bhawan, which houses the office of the chief minister and top bureaucrats, with the assurance that they would be saved.
This was an attempt to tarnish the image of the government, according to the police. Patel is a former spokesperson of the Congress while Khan is the Amethi district president of the AIMIM.
Khan has been arrested by the police and is being brought to Lucknow for interrogation. A female relative of the women has also been taken into custody for instigating the duo.
The mother and daughter are being treated in Lucknow.
