Madhya Pradesh Woman Seeks Death Penalty For Man Who Set Her Mother On Fire

The daughter of a woman principal of a college in Indore in Madhya Pradesh, who died on Saturday after being set on fire allegedly by a former student on February 20, sought the death penalty for the accused and rued that no one came to the rescue of her mother.

Dr Vimukta Sharma (54), principal of BM College of Pharmacy, was allegedly set on fire by former student Ashutosh Srivastava (24) in Simrol area here on February 20, as per police.

Sharma, who had suffered 80 per cent burns, died on Saturday morning while undergoing treatment in a hospital.

Devanshi Sharma, the daughter of the principal, said, "I saw my mother writhing in pain and agony. The man who did this deserves nothing less than the death penalty. In our culture, a teacher is held in high esteem. My mother worked with utmost devotion in her career spanning 16 years." "It is so unfortunate no one stopped her former student from carrying out such a heinous act," a distressed Devanshi told PTI while returning from the crematorium where she and her pharmacist father Manoj Sharma lit the pyre.

Two days earlier, Devanshi had alleged the police had not taken complaints from her family about the accused seriously, though Superintendent of Police (Rural) Bhagwat Singh Virde claimed these complaints pertained to Srivastava threatening suicide.

Srivastava, who was held on the day of the incident itself, has been charged with murder as well as other offences and the stringent National Security Act has been invoked against him.

As per police, Srivastava has claimed he cleared the B.Pharma exam in July 2022, but despite several requests, the management of BM College of Pharmacy was not giving him his marksheet.

However, refuting the allegations, the college authorities said Srivastava, who has criminal antecedents, was not coming to collect his marksheet despite several reminders.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)