16-year old girl raped, doused in petrol and burnt to death ‘by her neighbour’

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped, drenched in petrol, and burnt to death by her neighbour in the latest sex attack to shock India.  

The schoolgirl, from Dildarnagar in the Ghazipur district, was alone in her home on Saturday when a neighbouring youth broke into the property and raped her, Indian media report. In a statement made by the girl before her death, she told police that the accused tried to force her to elope with him and when she refused, he doused her in petrol and set her on fire.

Hearing her cries, neighbours rushed to the scene and took the terrified youngster to the local police station, where she was transported to the district hospital.  She was later transferred to the trauma centre in Varanasi but died of her injuries during the journey.

Arvind Chaturvedi, the Ghazipur superintendent of police, told The Times of India: ‘The girl died on the way to Varanasi and the body has been sent for post mortem.  

On the basis of her statement recorded by the Dildarnagar police before her death and on the complaint of her brother, a named FIR has been lodged in this connection and several teams have been engaged to arrest the accused.’

India has seen a number of high profile rape cases in recent years, leading to widespread protests. Last month, a man raped and beheaded a four-year-old girl before peeling off the skin of her face so she could not be identified, police said.