Another teen raped, set on fire in Jharkhand; one held
new delhi — A 17-year-old battled for her life on Monday after being raped, doused in kerosene and set on fire, the second such case to shake India as it battles an increase in sexual crimes.
The teenager was attacked on the same day and in the same state of Jharkhand as a 16-year-old who was raped and burned to death.
“The girl has suffered 70 per cent first-degree burns. There is a chance that she will survive,” said Shailendra Barnwal, police superintendent of Pakur district.
The condition of the girl is stated to be stable as she was shifted to the Bokaro General Hospital. The condition of the girl is stable, acting civil surgeon B K Singh said.
The girl was initially admitted to a nursing home at Jangipur in Murshidabad district by her relatives and later shifted to the Malda Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal on Sunday. She was taken to the Bokaro hospital late Sunday night, the police said.
Senior Pakur district officials, including Deputy Commissioner Dilip Kumar Jha, Superintendent of Police Shailendra Kumar Burnwal and District Civil Surgeon Dr B Marandi, visited the nursing home at Jangipur on Sunday.
Officials said the district administration would bear her medical expenses. The deputy commissioner also handed over a cheque of Rs30,000 to the family members of the girl towards medical expenses, they said.
The incident took place when the victim was alone in her residence on Friday.
When the victim had said she would inform her family members about the incident, the accused dragged her to the bathroom, poured kerosene and set her on fire, they said.
The victim’s neighbours rushed to the spot after they heard her screams, rescued her and took her to the Jangipur nursing home. A police team had recorded the victim’s statement on Sunday, they said.
Police have arrested a 19-yearold man who lives in the same neighbourhood as the latest victim on Sunday.
“He poured kerosene on the girl and set her on fire,” police officer Barnwal said.
The incident happened on Friday, the same day as the similar case in Chatra district, which 15 people have been detained over.
The main suspect in the first case is said to have been angered by a village council decision that he should do 100 sit-ups and pay a $750 fine for raping the girl, and attacked the girl’s parents and set their house on fire with the teenager inside.
The two cases have shone a spotlight on the treatment of rape in India, where some 40,000 cases were reported in 2016.
The country had already been agonising over the brutal gang-rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir. Eight Hindus have been accused over the abduction, repeated rape and killing of the Muslim girl.
The debate has been heightened further by new police figures indicating that more than five women were raped every day in the Indian capital this year. As many as 578 rape cases were reported up to April 15, against 563 in 2017 during the same period, police said. —