Lucknow, June 20: Uttar Pradesh today recorded its fifth sexual assault case against women in 10 days after the death of a housewife who was raped by three youths and set aflame.

The 35-year-old mother of three was a resident of Nidhauli in Etah, a western Uttar Pradesh district known for its high rate of crime.

The youths who allegedly raped her are from an influential landlord’s family in a neighbouring village. They apparently knew the woman’s husband Shishupal Yadav, a small farmer.

Chief minister Mayavati’s rivals have demanded she be sacked. Samajwadi Party state chief Akhilesh Yadav said she should quit. State Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi said: “She should be ashamed. People expect more from a woman chief minister but she doesn’t have a word of sympathy.”

The BSP government acted today by transferring Narendra Pal Singh, the officer who refused to register a rape and murder case.

“Around 2.30am yesterday, three persons, identified as Sunil Yadav, Suman Yadav and Mulayam Singh, raided the house of the woman and allegedly raped her,” a senior police officer in Lucknow said. The three are absconding.

Special director-general of police Brij Lal said that in her dying declaration, the woman said that Sunil Yadav raped her. “I raised the alarm after Sunil Yadav raped me. This prompted them to set me on fire,” he quoted the woman as saying.

On June 11, a 14-year-old girl was found hanging from a tree outside a Lakhimpur Kheri police station. The family alleged she was raped.

Three days later, a Dalit girl was attacked by some youths in Kannauj. When she resisted the rape bid, they pierced her eyes with a sharp object.

Yesterday, a 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her suitor and his friend. In Gonda in eastern Uttar Pradesh, another teen was raped and killed, the police said today.