Raped and burned teenage girl in India dies

The 15-year-old girl who was raped and burned near New Delhi, India, died from her injuries on Wednesday. The unnamed girl had told police that she was raped and set on fire by a man who stalked her for months.

She was attacked on Monday in a village just outside the country’s capital. The police report said her parents found her on their home’s rooftop terrace after they heard her screams. She was brutally assaulted and had been set to fire. Ninety-five percent of her body was covered with burns.

The girl was taken to a hospital in New Delhi. However, she succumbed to her injuries early Wednesday morning. Uttar Pradesh state police constable Yadram Singh announced that the teenager, who was either 15 or 16 years old, passed away.

A 20-year-old man was charged on Tuesday with rape and attempted murder, which will be changed to murder since the victim has died. Her family said the man had been following the girl for several months, with her father even filing a police complaint against him. The police issued a warning to him last year, the Associated Press reports.

The man’s family claimed the two had a consensual relationship, saying the man did not rape the girl. They declined to comment on the girl’s burn injuries.

Rape in India

According to the Amnesty International report for 2015/2016, India has over 37,000 reported cases of rape in 2014 alone. The number is believed to be underestimated because many women chose not to report to the police in fear of stigma and discrimination from officials. Reporting of the crime and the conviction of sexual offenders remain low.

In December 2012, the rape of a 23-year-old student in a bus in South Delhi prompted global outrage. The woman, dubbed in the media as Nirbhaya (meaning “fearless”), rode a private bus with her friend when the other occupants of the bus, six men including the driver, attacked them. The men raped and tortured the student, beating her friend who tried to help her. She was rushed to the hospital in the city but was transferred to Singapore 13 days after the attack for emergency treatment. She died two days later.

The six men were jailed, but the youngest of them was recently freed after the court refused to extend his three-year sentence in December.

The incident prompted widespread condemnation from local and international groups, shedding light on India’s rape problem. The following March, the parliament, in an effort to curb public anger, passed a bill containing more severe punishments for rapists.