Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati said on Sunday that the alleged gang rape of a 19-year-old Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district was “extremely” shameful and condemnable. The teenager is struggling for life at an Aligarh hospital, where she has been put on a ventilator. Four accused named in the case have been arrested, officials had said.

“A Dalit girl in UP’s Hathras district was severely beaten up and then she was gang-raped, which is extremely-shameful and extremely-condemnable,” Mayawati tweeted in Hindi. “Even daughters and sisters from other sections of society are not safe in the state. The government must pay attention towards it. This is the demand of the BSP,” she added.

Giving details of the incident, Hathras Superintendent of Police Vikrant Vir said the woman had gone to the fields with her mother on September 14 and went missing soon after. The teenager was later found brutally injured, with her tongue having a serious cut as she bit it while the accused attempted to strangulate her, according to the officer.

In a statement to the magistrate, the victim said Sandip, Ramu, Lavkush and Ravi had raped her and when she resisted their attempts, they tried to strangulate her, leading to the cut in the tongue, the official said. PTI NAV HMB.