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Imphal, Aug. 31: A 25-year-old burn victim delivered a seven-month baby girl at the surgery ward of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences here today.
The baby was stillborn.
Relatives of Vimaiya Raikhan, the woman from Ukhrul town who is struggling for her life with 95 per cent burn injuries, said the baby was stillborn at 7.40am today.
“My daughter complained of pain in her stomach and a relative went to inform the doctor on duty but she delivered the baby girl before the doctor arrived,” Khathingla Raikhan, Vimaiya’s mother, said.
When this correspondent visited the hospital in the afternoon, the stillborn child was still near the mother’s feet.
Vimaiya, a mother of two minor children, was brought to the institute on Sunday after being given first aid at the district hospital in Ukhrul town. She had set herself on fire but neighbours managed to save her.
Vimaiya and her husband L. Ningpamshang stay with their two children at a rented room at Phungreitang in Ukhrul town.
The relatives said she poured kerosene on her body and set herself on fire in front of her husband on August 25 night but the latter allegedly did not try to save her.
“My daughter tried to commit suicide as she was unable to bear to daily atrocities and beatings by her husband,” Khathingla said.
R. Putting, father of the injured woman, said in his complaint at Ukhrul police station that his daughter took the extreme step because she could not bear her husband’s atrocities and that the husband had abetted the suicide attempt.
Police have registered a case but the husband is yet to be arrested as he is attending to his wife at the hospital here since Sunday. A team of Ukhrul police was on its way to Imphal to interrogate the injured and her husband.
Ningpamshang said on August 25 night he had come home drunk, had quarrelled with his wife and gone to sleep. He woke up on hearing the cries of their three-and-a-half-year old elder son and found his wife in flames. He said he covered her with a blanket.
“We do not want to take revenge, but want justice,” the mother said.
The case attracted attention of NGOs working for women and children. “The husband should be arrested as he abetted the suicide attempt. We will fight for justice,” Women Empowerment for Justice secretary Takhelchangbam Ambrabati said.
Teams of the NGO and another, Women Action for Development, visited the injured woman to record her statement for taking up the case with government authorities.
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