From Rahul's rally to death

A woman, who had attended a meeting with Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi where women showered him with kisses in India's north-eastern state of Assam on Wednesday, was burnt to death by her husband, police said yesterday.
Bonti Chutia, a 38-year-old Congress-adherent councillor in Bekajan Gaon Panchayat, died of 95 percent burns at Jorhat Medical College hospital on Thursday evening, media reports said quoting police.
According to Assam police, Bonti reached home late from the programme in Jorhat on Wednesday and her 44-year-old husband Someswor Chutia behaved rudely with her.
The next day when the incident was publicised, the angry husband, who had been against Bonti's joining politics, locked her in a room in the house, poured kerosene on her and set her alight.
Her husband also received 35 percent burns as Bonti, in a desperate bid to save herself, attempted to rush out of the room and he held her back, according to police.
Both were whisked to Jorhat Medical College Hospital immediately by neighbours. However, Bonti died at the hospital while the husband had to be shifted to Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh in a very critical condition.
Superintendent of police Amanjeet Kaur said Bonti was not the one who was shown on television kissing Rahul Gandhi during the meeting.
"We have talked to people and came to know that although she [the victim] came to the venue Wednesday to interact with the Congress leader, she stayed outside," Kaur was quoted by Indian newspapers as saying.
"We also came to know from the neighbours that the couple had a strained relationship for a long time and that could be one of the reasons for the incident," she said.
However, an unnatural death case had been filed in this connection and the reason behind the incident could be known only after the investigation, Kaur added.