News / India

India girl dies after rape, immolation

Wednesday, 09 March 2016 8:18 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 09 March 2016 8:17 AM ]

The grandmother of a minor female rape victim in India sits among protesters near the home of the child in the capital, New Delhi, October 17, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

A female Indian teenager who was recently raped and set on fire outside the capital, New Delhi, has died of her injuries.

The 15-year-old succumbed to the burns she had suffered over 95 percent of her body at a hospital in the Indian capital on Wednesday, said Yadram Singh, the state police constable in Uttar Pradesh.

“Unfortunately, she could not be saved despite the best efforts of the medical staff,” said Ashwani Kumar, the investigating officer in the case.

The attack had taken place in a village in the northern India state on Monday.

A 20-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged with several offenses, including rape and attempted murder, in connection with the assault, which he is accused of having carried out against the victim on the rooftop of her house.

The victim’s death would change the attempted murder charge to murder.

Media reports quoted the girl’s father as saying that a neighbor had been harassing his daughter for a year. The father had filed a police complaint against the man and police had issued a warning to the person. It was not immediately clear, however, if the neighbor in question is the same individual arrested and charged.

India has earned notoriety for its history of violence against women, including frequent cases of rape.

Indian students shout slogans as they march towards New Delhi’s chief minister's residence during a protest following the gang-rape of a student in the capital, New Delhi, December 20, 2012. (Photo by AFP)

In an incident that sent shockwaves throughout the country as well as the world in 2012, a 23-year-old medical student was brutally assaulted and gang-raped aboard a moving bus before being thrown out onto the street in New Delhi. She later died of her injuries in the hospital.

In May 2014, attackers raped and strangled two teenage sisters in Uttar Pradesh, hanging their bodies from a tree.

In March, a gang of thieves attacked the Jesus and Mary convent school and church in Ranagaht in the Nadia district of West Bengal. A senior nun, who tried to stop the robbery, was assaulted and raped before the gang fled with the funds set aside for renovation work in the convent school.

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