Akhilesh Yadav demands UP Chief Minister's resignation over Unnao rape victim's death

After the death of the Unnao rape victim, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday staged a sit-in outside the Vidhan Sabha in Lucknow and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the incident.

"This is an extremely condemnable incident. This is a black day. It is not the first such incident under this BJP government. The Chief Minister had said in this very assembly that the culprits would be shot dead, they could not save the life of a daughter," Yadav told reporters outside the Lucknow Assembly, flanked by his party colleagues.

After battling for life at Delhi's Safdarjung hospital, the Unnao Rape victim who was set ablaze while on her way to a court hearing on Thursday morning died at 11:40 pm on Friday.

"Till the day Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, state Home Secretary and DGP do not resign, justice will not be done. Tomorrow we will conduct a 'shok sabha' (condolence meet) in all districts of the state over Unnao rape case," he added.

He further said that the "justice system cannot work effectively till the BJP government is in power" and slammed it for tampering with the helpline number started by his government.

"We had started the 1090 helpline number to help the daughters of the state. What problem did the BJP government have with it? Why did they change it to 112 and failed to provide help to our daughters," he said.

Earlier today, the Samajwadi Party had said it will hold condolence meet for the Unnao rape victim and held the police, government responsible for the crime.

"'Do not let the culprits go, I do not want to die, I want to live'... The last words of Unnao's daughter, who lost the battle of life, will leave anyone stunned. The police, government and obstructed judicial system are copartners in it. Samajwadi Party will hold a condolence meet for the daughter where everyone will keep 2-minute silence for her," SP's tweet, roughly translated in English from Hindi, read.

On Thursday, the 23-year-old was airlifted from Lucknow's SMC government hospital to Safdarjung Hospital.

According to the police, five miscreants allegedly threw kerosene on the woman and set her ablaze when she was on her way to a local court for the hearing of a rape case she had filed in March.