Two groups of men allegedly molested two young women on Saturday and later set fire to them as punishment for approaching police, who the victims say refused to accept their complaints and tipped off their tormentors.

A 19-year-old woman is fighting for life with 30 per cent burns at the district hospital in Mau, 300km east of Lucknow, while a 22-year-old is battling 40 per cent burns in Sitapur, 120km north of the state capital.

Mau district police said the teenaged victim had told them that Raj Dulare, resident of her village in Mau’s Dohrighat area, and two of his friends had molested her on Saturday morning.

“She says the local police station refused to accept her complaint and informed the accused that she was trying to file a case against them,” circle officer Nand Lal told reporters on Sunday.

“She says that around noon on Saturday, while her parents were in the fields, the trio barged into her home, poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. We are trying to arrest the accused.”

Dr Faizan Ahmad, who is treating the victim, said: “She has 30 per cent burns but her condition is critical because the centre of her body has been affected most.”

The other victim, a resident of Tambaur in Sitapur, has accused two local villagers, Ramu Kumar and his younger brother Rajesh, of molesting her on Saturday morning. She says the Tambaur police turned her and her husband away without registering an FIR.

Her husband went directly to his farmland, she says, while she made towards her home. On the way, the two brothers dragged her to a corner, doused her in kerosene and tossed a burning matchstick at her, she has told the police.

S. Pandey, inspector-general of police, Lucknow Range, visited Sitapur on Sunday and suspended O.P. Saroj, station house officer at Tambaur police station, for failing to register the woman’s complaint and take timely action against the molesters.

“An inquiry has been ordered against some other policemen. Rajesh has been arrested,” Pandey told reporters.

Saroj had earlier told reporters the woman “had not submitted any written complaint” but he had somehow come to know about the matter and registered a case.

On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had boasted about the “perfect law and order” in his state at a poll rally in Rajasthan and accused the Congress of burdening the country with “terrorism, corruption, Naxalism and lawlessness”.