Lucknow teacher alleges molestation, attempts self-immolation

Lucknow: A woman teacher on Tuesday tried to set herself on fire in front of the Vidhan Sabha building here, alleging that the Principal of her school had molested her and the police was not entertaining her complaint.

The woman said that she had also gone to the 5, Kalidas Marg residence of the Chief Minister to raise the matter but she was shooed away.

She then tried to immolate herself in front of the state assembly building, which also faces the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state headquarters.

The police present there immediately rushed in and prevented the woman from setting herself afire. She had already doused herself with kerosene and was striking a match stick when the woman police personnel overpowered her.

Rashmi Vishwakarma, said she teaches at Saraswati Shishu Mandir school and her Principal Vinod Awasthi molested her and had been torturing her ever since she told him that she would lodge a complaint with the police and make the matter public. She also accused the local police of not doing anything on her complaint.

On the contrary, she alleged, the Qaiserbagh and Chowk police station officials were pressurising her to compromise and close the matter.

When she tried to torch herself, Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Sahi and Social Welfare Minister Ramapati Shastri were present in the BJP office for the "Jan Sunwai" programme, where ministers of the state government listen to the problems of the people and order necessary action.

The incident came as a chilling reminder of a similar incident a few weeks back when a woman accused a BJP legislator of rape and tried to set herself on fire. Later, her father was picked up by the police and beaten to death in custody.