Fury on the streets at 'smile on the face': Jharkhand immolation murder horrifies all

'There is a smile on the face of Ankita's killer,' highlighted Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson, Swati Maliwal sharing an image on Twitter on Monday. The 19-year-old, Ankita, was set on fire by a youth construction worker, Shahrukh, after she turned down his proposal in Dumka of Jharkhand. After days of fighting for her life at a local hospital, she succumbed to her burn injuries.

A video of the victim while in hospital has gone viral on social media. In the video, the 12th-grade student can be heard saying, "He (Shahrukh) came at four in the morning, poured petrol on me, and lit the matchstick, and ran away. There were two of them- he came along with Chhotu, I had seen from my window."

After the incident, having suffered 90 per cent burns, she was first admitted to the Phulo Jhano Medical College and Hospital in Dumka and was later referred to Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) for better treatment. In the viral video, she had further said, "I have burn injuries all over my body...I just want that like I am dying right now, he is left to die. "

'The smile depicts the failure of the system' 

Maliwal on Twitter wrote, "This smile (on Shahrukh's face) depicts the courage of the beastly and the failure of the system. In Delhi too recently a boy opened fire on a school girl. We will send suggestions to governments to stop stocking very soon. Daughters have to be saved."

Fury on the streets of Ranchi

Meanwhile, there is fury on the streets over the murder, with effigies being burnt in Ranchi. A protester said, "If you see the video, you would know that she could have been saved... The govt is all stern when she has passed away, why weren't you this stern when she was still alive?" 

Another protester said, "With 90 per cent burns, she was kept in a ward of RIMS- I would request the administration to go and see the ward. The ward, a burn ward has no Air Conditioning, nothing...She should have been sent outside for treatment, but the government did not do that." 

Yet another said, "The government should answer why she was not sent out for treatment...In the vote bank politics, you are keeping at stake the life of people. The government is responsible for Ankita's death."