Gujarat woman set on fire by neighbour over puppy's name

A woman was seriously injured after she was reportedly set on fire by one of her neighbours who were angry over the similarity between the name of her puppy and the nickname of the wife of one of the attackers in Gujarat, police said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred at Palitana town in the Bhavnagar district on Monday afternoon.

The victim, Neetaben Sarvaiya (35), suffered severe burn injuries. She is currently undergoing treatment at the government hospital in Bhavnagar, a Palitana town police station official said.

Sarvaiya was at her home with her youngest son at the time of the incident. Her husband and two children had gone out, he said.

Sarvaiya's neighbour Surabhai Bharwad and five others barged into her house on Monday afternoon. They objected to Sarvaiya naming her puppy as "Sonu", which is the nickname of Bharwad's wife, as per the FIR.

Bharwad accused Sarvaiya of deliberately naming the puppy after his wife, police said.

In her statement to the police, Sarvaiya said that Bharwad abused her but she tried to avoid him and others. As she entered the kitchen, three persons followed her. One of them poured kerosene from the container on Sarvaiya and set her on fire lighting a matchstick, the police said. Sarvaiya raised an alarm, hearing which some neighbours rushed to her house. At the same time, her husband also arrived.

They put out the flames using her husband's coat. The woman suffered severe burn injuries, the official said.

According to police, the families of Sarvaiya and her attackers had quarreled in the past over the issue of water supply. However, that matter was resolved amicably.

Police registered an FIR against six persons under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for the attempt to murder, house trespassing, insult etc. Nobody has been arrested so far, police said.

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