Indians protest the country’s rape laws and the government response in New Delhi in 2012.
A 15-year-old Indian girl is fighting for her life in a New Delhi hospital after being raped and set on fire on the rooftop terrace of her family’s home.
The attack is just one of several recently reported cases of rape against women or children in India – underlining the persistence of such violence despite a public outcry three years ago that led to stronger laws to prevent sexual assault.
In the latest case, police have arrested a 20-year-old man for allegedly raping and attempting to burn the girl to death on Monday in Tigri village, near the New Delhi suburb of Noida in the state of Uttar Pradesh, according to constable Yadram Singh of the Bisrakh police station.
Singh said the man “had burns on his hands” and was charged with several offences, including rape, attempted murder, assault of a minor and causing grievous injury.
The girl was in critical condition with severe burns over most of her body and was being treated in a New Delhi hospital, Singh said. Indian newspapers reported that she was suffering from burns to 95 per cent of her body.
Singh’s police report on the case describes how the girl’s parents found her with severe burns, after hearing her screaming from the rooftop terrace a few hours before dawn on Monday.
The girl later told police that she was raped, beaten and then set on fire by a man who she said had been stalking her for months, Singh said.