Girl, 15, dies after family of boy who 'raped her' set her on FIRE to stop her going to police
- The girl, from Jigna village in northeast India, was attacked on January 6
- She was rushed to hospital with 80 per cent burns but died on Sunday
- Police charge Gyan Singh and his parents with murder. Facing death penalty
- It is claimed they were afraid she might alert police about the assault
By MATT BLAKE
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India's rape crisis grew yet deeper today when it emerged a schoolgirl died two weeks after a boy who tried to rape her set her on fire - with the help of his parents.
The 15-year-old, from Jigna village in northeast India, was rushed to hospital after the January 6 attack with horrific burns to 80 per cent of her body.
Despite doctors battling for two weeks to keep her alive, she died of her injuries on Sunday.
Police have charged Gyan Singh and his parents with murder following her death and say all three face the death penalty if found guilty.
Protest: There has been a groundswell of protest in India since a student was gang raped on a bus and left to die, with mass demonstrations for women's rights, tougher rape laws and calls for sex attackers to be hanged
It is claimed the three doused her in petrol and lit a match because they were afraid she might lodge a complaint against Singh who had tried to sexually assault her the previous day.
'With the girl's death we have enough evidence to press for death penalty for Singh and his parents who had been arrested immediately after she was admitted to hospital,' Senior Superintendent of Police of Allahabad Mohit Agrawl said.
It is the latest in a chain of high-profile rapes in recent months that have shaken India to its core, triggering nationwide self-reflection and soul searching.
Justice: An Indian girl, center, dressed as Lady Justice takes part in a candlelight vigil in New Delhi last week after police said they have arrested six suspects in a second gang rape of a bus passenger in India
Second gang rape case: Indian policemen stand with six men, face covered in black sheet, suspected in a gang rape of a bus passenger in Punjab state
The first, on December 16 last year, saw a 23-year-old medical student gang raped on a private bus by five men in New Delhi before she was thrown, fatally injured and unclothed, into the road and left to die.
Thirteen days later she died in hospital. The men alleged to have attacked her are awaiting trial for her rape and murder.
There has been a groundswell protest in India ever since, with mass demonstrations for women's rights, tougher rape laws and calls for sex attackers to be hanged.
Meanwhile last week, a fast-track court set up exclusively to deal with cases of crime against women has imposed the death penalty on a 56-year-old man for raping and murdering a minor.
High profile case: A Delhi police van believed to be transporting the five men accused in the Delhi gang rape leaving the city court in New Delhi, India on January 7
Anger: Indian protesters hold candles during a rally in New Delhi last month following the death of the gang rape victim
Accused: Ravidas camp, the slum where four of the six accused by police in the Delhi gang rape case, are reported to live
The act was termed 'heinous' and included in the category of rarest of the rare.
Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat, who heads the recently-created fast-track court at Dwarka court complex, awarded capital punishment to Bharat Singh, a guard at a farmhouse in West Delhi.
RAPE IN INDIA: A NATION IN SHOCK
Rape is the one of the most common crimes against Indian women.
So common, in fact, that there is a euphemism coined for the public sexual molestation of women.
In reference to the biblical 'Eve', 'Eve teasing' implies that women are responsible for the behaviour of their attackers.
Rape victims rarely press charges because of social stigma and fear they will be accused of inviting the attack.
Many women say they structure their lives around protecting themselves and their daughters from attack.
New Delhi is the rape capital of India with a rape reported on average every 18 hours.
Government data show the number of reported rape cases in the country rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.
As well as the death sentence, the court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Singh under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
On January 15, hundreds of people surrounded a school in the city of Vasco da Gama in Goa to protest after a seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped in the toilets next door to the headmistress's office.
A day earlier, six men were arrested after another alleged gang rape of a woman on a bus in New Delhi.
The victim had been travelling to her in-laws house in Punjab on Friday when she was allegedly snatched and to a district bordering Amritsar, the Sikh holy city.
Five men joined the driver and conductor, who had taken her by motorbike to an unknown address, and took turns to rape the 29-year-old.
But these are just a handful of cases that have reached public attention in recent months.
In 'rape capital' New Delhi, police data revealed as many as 706 cases of rape - almost two per day - were registered in 2012, which is around 24 per cent more than the 572 cases reported in 2011.
Even worse, the city witnessed 45 rapes (three in a day) and 75 cases of molestation (five in a day on an average) in 15 days after the December 16 gang rape of the 23-year-old paramedic in a moving bus in South Delhi.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265878/Girl-15-dies-family-boy-raped-set-fire.html#ixzz2IcgW0VZM
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