State health, medical education and family welfare minister Banna Gupta on Thursday came to the aid of a 27-year-old victim of domestic violence who has been admitted to Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) with 50 per cent burns.

Social outfit Being Jharkhand had posted a report on Ruby Devi’s condition and tagged Gupta on Twitter on Wednesday.

The health minister on Thursday directed Dhanbad deputy commissioner (DC) Amit Kumar to ensure proper medical treatment for Ruby who was allegedly set on fire by her in-laws at their home in Salanpur area of Bengal’s West Burdwan district on December 21 last year for giving birth to a girl child for the fourth time.

After undergoing treatment at several hospitals, Ruby was finally shifted to PMCH around two weeks ago.

On the instruction of Dhanbad DC, PMCH superintendent Arun Kumar Chaudhary on Thursday met Ruby Devi at the burns ward and directed the doctors and paramedics to treat her properly.

“We will provide all necessary treatment to Ruby Devi, including medicines that are locally available. If need be, we will also purchase medicines for her treatment,” Chaudhary said.

Earlier, talking to The Telegraph at PMCH, Ruby Devi said her father-in-law Santlal Sao, mother-in-law Shanti Devi, brother-in-law Suraj Kumar and sisters-in-law Soni Devi and Pinki Devi doused her with kerosene and set her on fire for giving birth to the fourth girl child.

“They began torturing me from the day I gave birth to my fourth baby around four months ago. My husband Satish, who works in a glass factory in Salanpur, also took their side,” Ruby said.

She said her husband was compelled to admit her to a local hospital when neighbours raised an alarm after getting a burning smell from their house.

However, two days after admitting Ruby, Satish left home and didn’t come back, Ruby said.

“My mother Sunita Devi, who works as a daily wage earner at Chittaranjan town, later shifted me to another hospital in Salanpur from where I was finally admitted to PMCH two weeks ago with help of some social workers,” she said.

She said she didn’t file any complaint against her in-laws because they had threatened to kill her daughters — Baby Kumari,7, Priyanka, 5, Siya, 3, and four-month-old Ananya — if she went to the police.

Ruby, however, complained that PMCH didn’t have a number of medicines required for her treatment and she was finding it difficult to purchase them from outside at a higher price.