Lucknow, May 10 (NIE): Two days after a 17-year-old Dalit girl was allegedly beaten up and set ablaze by a youth in Azamgarh because she refused to give him her phone number, the chairman of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Commission met her family Wednesday.

Commission chairman Brij Lal promised the victim a compensation of Rs 8.5 lakh, apart from the cost of her treatment and a house for her family under the Pradhanmantri Awas Yojna. He also instructed the police to ensure safety of the family.

The girl, who is admitted at Shiv Prasad Gupta Hospital, is critical with 80 per cent burns. The accused, Mohammad Shafi (19), was sent to jail Wednesday.

“I first went to Varanasi to meet the victim. She has suffered around 80 per cent burn injuries, but she was able to narrate to me the whole incident. Later, I met her mother in Azamgarh,” Lal told The Indian Express.

According to the police, the accused and the girl were friends and used to talk over phone. However, she stopped talking to him recently. “On Monday, Shafi had gone to the girl’s house to ask for her new number. When she refused…the youth assaulted her and then set her on fire,” said Azamgarh Sadar circle officer Akmal Khan.