India rape crisis: Third teenage girl sexually assaulted and burned alive in a week

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

A teenage girl in India has died after she was raped and burned alive in the third attack of its kind in the country within a week.

The 16-year-old was reportedly assaulted by a man at her own home in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh state on Thursday.

After storming into the property, the suspect raped the girl, later dousing her in petrol and setting her on fire after she threatened to tell her family about the incident, police said.

Two men have been arrested in connection with the attack.

“We arrested the two defendants, one of whom is the cousin of the girl who informed the main suspect that she was alone in the house,” Sagar district police chief Satyendra Kumar Shukla told AFP.

“The main accused is married and has one child.”

The attack is the latest in a long line of violent sexual crimes committed against women and girls in India this year as the country grapples with a rising number of incidents.

A 16-year-old girl was raped by a group of men as she attended a wedding ceremony in the village of Raja Kendu, in Jharkhand state last week.

She later died after being set on fire in retribution for reporting the attack to her family. Some 14 people have since been arrested in connection with the killing.

Days later, a 17-year-old girl suffered burns on 95 per cent of her body after she was raped and doused in kerosene in a second attack in Jharkhand, this time in Pakur district.

The assaults have drawn widespread condemnation internationally and sparked a wave of protests inside the country.

India introduced the death penalty in April for those found guilty of raping children under the age of 12 following outrage over several attacks on young girls.

Around 40,000 rape cases were reported across India in 2016, although authorities believe there may be many more victims who remain silent.