Grieving family fears revenge, sees no hope for justice

As they mourned the death of one of their brave girls, who was set ablaze on Thursday by five persons, the family members of the Unnao rape victim sought death penalty for the perpetrators though they also feared for their lives as the offenders belonged to ''influential'' families.

The wailing parents of the deceased also felt that they would ''never get justice''.

''We want death penalty for the perpetrators... I doubt, however, that we will ever get justice... they all (offenders) come from influential families," said the father of the deceased while speaking to reporters at his village in Unnao on Saturday.

The family members were also "scared" as they feared "reprisal" from the kin of the perpetrators. The father of one of the main accused was the village 'pradhan' (panchayat chief).

Another member of her family said that the pradhan's son had "beaten" the deceased on many occasions as he was angry with her for pursuing the rape case against his cousin, who was also among the accused who had set the victim ablaze on Thursday.

"They can do anything... they know powerful people... they can kill us also to take revenge," the uncle of the deceased said.

The family members said that the victim had apprehended a threat to her life from the accused persons and had also apprised the local police about the same, yet no action was taken against them.