The
Times of India reports the horrific incident occurred in Sirsa Kalaar, Orai, in the Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh state. The unnamed girl, a student in class 8, was visiting a farm with her older sister. As they returned home, they were set upon by three villagers, including a suspect identified as Ram Bahadur. The younger sister was dragged away and raped by the three men. When she threatened to report the assault, the men allegedly set her alight.
Although the victim's sister ran off to notify villagers, the rapists were able to escape.
The victim sustained severe burns to over 80 percent of her body and died in a local hospital on Wednesday morning.
Local police said they were hunting down Bahadur and the other two suspects, whose identities have not been released.
Three other brutal rapes have made headlines in India in the past week.
dnaIndia.com
reports a class 7 girl was raped at gunpoint as she returned home in the village of Kudana, also in Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday.
In Delhi, a 17-year-old class 9 student was
gang-raped by three men inside a parked car on Tuesday night.
And last week, a 22-year-old IT worker was
abducted and raped, allegedly by a pair of taxi drivers, in Hitec City, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Two suspects are in police custody.
