Loni man pours petrol on his wife, sets her ablaze; arrested
A 31-year-old man was arrested for allegedly setting ablaze his 25-year-old wife after pouring petrol on her at their house in Loni’s Mustafabad locality on Sunday evening, the Ghaziabad police said on Monday, adding that the woman claimed he wanted to get rid of her after marrying some other woman.
The victim woman, Sadiya (single name), is hospitalised in Delhi with about 40 to 45% burns. The couple married six years ago and she stays with her three minor children in Loni. Her husband was identified as Mohammad Arif, a teacher in Panipat, police said.
“The injured woman told police at the hospital that her husband recently married another woman, and this led to an argument between the two on Sunday morning. In the evening, her husband brought a five-litre plastic can filled with petrol, and poured it over her before setting her afire,” said Siddharth Gautam, assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Loni circle.
The woman suffered major burn injuries to the lower part of her body, and is still in critical state at the hospital, officers said.
Investigators said that the incident took place around 5pm when the woman was in balcony of her first-floor house.
Following her brother Mohammad Salman’s police complaint, a first information report was registered against Arif and he was arrested. “We are trying to find out if he married for a second time. During interrogation, he denied charges against him,” the ACP added.
In his police complaint, Salman said some neighbours alerted him about loud noises emerging from his sister’s house.
“I rushed to her house and found that she was on fire. I somehow doused the fire and rushed her to GTB hospital in Delhi. She is admitted there. She told me that her husband has married another woman and also set her afire to kill her,” the FIR cites Salman as saying.
The FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 124(1) (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by the use of acid or other means) and 82(1) (marrying again during lifetime of husband or wife).
The ACP said that investigation is on in the case.
