Thiruvananthapuram : In a gruesome incident, a 51-year-old woman was set ablaze on a stationary train at Kannur in north Kerala by an unidentified person on Monday. The woman identified as Fathima from Kondotty in Malappuram district succumbed to the burns at the Government Medical College Hospital at Kozhikode in the night.
The incident happened inside an empty compartment of the Kannur-Alappuzha Executive Express 20 minutes before its departure at 5 am. According to Kannur police, the man emptied a liquor bottle on her and set on fire. The police have recovered the empty liquor bottle from the train. The woman, who suffered around 40% burns, ran out of the compartment screaming in pain. Passengers, who were waiting to board the train, noticed her and informed the Railway Protection Force (RPF). They immediately rushed her to the government hospital at Kannur. The incident took place in the dark as lights inside the compartment were yet to be switched on. The woman had boarded the train half-an-hour before its scheduled departure. At least two seats in the compart-ment were burnt. The train proceeded after detaching the compartment. Police said that some railway officials had found the woman and the man quarrelling on the platform shortly before the incident.
Police are on the lookout for the man, who slipped into the crowd after setting the woman on fire. The Railway Police said they had got some clues about the person. He appeared to be aged between 25 and 30. Police have released the sketch of the man. The incident comes three years after the brutal rape and murder of Soumya by a beggar, who has been sentenced to death.
The wo-man, who was returning from work at Kochi, was pushed out from a deserted ladies compartment of the running passenger train near Valla-tholnagar in Thrissur district.
