The tribal woman who was set on fire in a field is critical in hospital
A 38-year-old tribal woman was set on fire by a group of men after encroaching on land that her family got in a government welfare scheme in Madhya Pradesh.
The three men took a video after they set her on fire on the field, the woman's husband told the police, adding the video was shared on social media.
The tribal woman from Guna district, Rampyari Saharia, is in hospital in a critical condition.
District police chief Pankaj Srivastava said the woman's husband, Arjun Saharia, found her on the field writhing in pain with burn injuries on Saturday.
The police said Ms Saharia told her husband that the three men, all belonging to the Other Backward Classes, or OBC, community, set her on fire for tilling on 6 bighas of land, which was allotted to Ms Saharia's family under a government welfare scheme many years ago.
The land was, however, taken over by the men, until recently it was freed from the squatters by the local revenue department and handed over to Ms Saharia's family.
Her husband told the police that while he was going to their farm, he saw the three men - Pratap, Hanumat and Shyam Kirar - and their family members leaving in a tractor. Arjun Saharia then ran towards the field on seeing smoke coming from that direction. When he reached there, he found his injured wife.
"A case has been filed on Arjun Saharia's complaint and two of three men named in the First Information Report (FIR) have been arrested," police officer Pankaj Srivastava said.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh criticised the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh over the incident. "A party that puts up Droupadi Murmu for the presidential election allows such a terrible atrocity on a tribal woman. Shameful," Mr Ramesh tweeted.
Arjun Saharia had also filed a complaint with the local police that he faced threat to his life from the family of the three men. He alleged the police haven't acted on this complaint yet.