Lucknow, April 24: A woman teacher on Tuesday tried to set herself on fire in front of the Vidhan Sabha building here, alleging that the Principal of her school had molested her and the police was not entertaining her complaint.
The woman said that she had also gone to the 5, Kalidas Marg residence of the Chief Minister to raise the matter but she was shooed away.
She then tried to immolate herself in front of the state assembly building, which also faces the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state headquarters.
The police present there immediately rushed in and prevented the woman from setting herself afire. She had already doused herself with kerosene and was striking a match stick when the woman police personnel overpowered her.
Rashmi Vishwakarma, said she teaches at Saraswati Shishu Mandir school and her Principal Vinod Awasthi molested her and had been torturing her ever since she told him that she would lodge a complaint with the police and make the matter public. She also accused the local police of not doing anything on her complaint.
On the contrary, she alleged, the Qaiserbagh and Chowk police station officials were pressurising her to compromise and close the matter.
When she tried to torch herself, Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Sahi and Social Welfare Minister Ramapati Shastri were present in the BJP office for the "Jan Sunwai" programme, where ministers of the state government listen to the problems of the people and order necessary action.
The incident came as a chilling reminder of a similar incident a few weeks back when a woman accused a BJP legislator of rape and tried to set herself on fire. Later, her father was picked up by the police and beaten to death in custody.
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West Asia crisis: EAM Jaishankar speaks to Israeli counterpart
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New Delhi (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday spoke to his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa'ar and discussed various aspects of the West Asia crisis amid a US naval blockade of Iran's ports.
The external affairs minister also held a phone conversation with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and exchanged views on the situation arising out of the war between Iran and the US-Israel combine.
After his call with Jaishankar, Sa'ar said Iran's action harming freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz requires "action".
"Had a telecon this afternoon with Israel FM @gidonsaar. Our discussion covered different aspects of the West Asia situation," Jaishankar said on social media.
The phone conversation between the two foreign ministers came amid reports of efforts by the US and Iran to hold a fresh round of negotiations after the collapse of the initial dialogue in Islamabad.
"We discussed Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and Lebanon. I said that the firm American stance in the negotiations on conditions that would prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons (no enrichment in Iran, removal of enriched material from Iran) is critical for the entire international community," the Israeli foreign minister said.
He pressed for freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz for all countries, including India.
The call came amid increasing global concerns over the US naval blockade of Iran's ports. The US action came in response to Iran partially blocking the flow of shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Global oil and gas prices surged after Iran restricted the transit of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow lane between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, that handles roughly 20 per cent of global oil and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).
West Asia has been a major source of India's energy procurement.
