Mother-daughter duo 'immolate' themselves during anti-encroachment drive in Kanpur Dehat district

Kanpur (UP): In a tragic incident, a 45-year-old woman and her 20-year-old daughter allegedly died after they immolated themselves during an anti-encroachment drive in a village in Kanpur Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

Pramila Dixit (45) and her daughter Neha (20) allegedly took the extreme step in the presence of police, district administration and revenue officials, who had gone to Madauli village in the Rural area of the district to remove encroachments from a "gram samaj" land, a police official said.

Rural Station House Officer (SHO) Dinesh Gautam and Pramila's husband, Gendan Lal, sustained burn injuries when they tried to save the victims, he added.

The aggrieved family members of the women allegedly beat up Lekhpal (revenue officer) Ashok Singh, following which the anti-encroachment team members fled the spot.

The victims' family members also put forward their demand before District Magistrate (DM) Neha Jain and Superintendent of Police (SP) BBGTS Murthy for the registration of an FIR against Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Maitha) Gyaneshwar Prasad, Lekhpal Singh and others.

Additional Director General of Police (Kanpur zone) Alok Singh, along with Divisional Commissioner Raj Shekhar, visited the village.

Officials said locals had made a complaint to the DM against Lal for "encroaching" the "gram samaj" land.

The SP said officials had gone to the village to carry out an anti-encroachment drive when the mother-daughter duo immolated themselves inside their hut.

"We have reached the spot and a probe is on," the officer said.

Reacting to the incident, the Samajwadi Party (SP) blamed the "insensitive" administration for the "murders".

"Under the Yogi (Adityanath) government, Brahmin families are targeted and such incidents are taking place selectively. Like Dalits and backwards, Brahmins are also a target of atrocities of the Yogi government," the opposition party said in a tweet in Hindi.