NEW DELHI // A 16-year-old Indian girl who was raped and then set on fire on the roof of her home died in hospital early on Wednesday.
The teenager sustained more than 90 per cent burns in Monday’s attack, which took place in a village outside New Delhi.
“Unfortunately she could not be saved despite the best efforts of the medical staff,” said investigating police officer Ashwani Kumar.
“We have arrested the accused, who is 19 years old and sent him to judicial custody ... An investigation is on to find out more about the motive and details of the crime.”
The accused has been charged with a slew of offences including rape and murder.
“The body has been sent for postmortem. We are waiting for the report,” Mr Kumar added.
The girl’s family said the suspect had been stalking her for several months. Her father had filed a police complaint and police issued a warning to him last year.
Women’s rights activists accuse police of often overlooking complaints of stalking, which they say only emboldens the perpetrators.
The fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in 2012 shone a global spotlight on the frightening levels of violence against women in India.
Her death from injuries sustained during the brutal assault sparked some of the biggest demonstrations in India’s recent history, which intensified after being broken up by heavy-handed police tactics.
It triggered deep soul-searching about the treatment of women in a country where rape victims are often stigmatised and frequently pressured by police and relatives to drop allegations.
It also led to major reform of India’s rape laws, including the speeding up of trials and increased penalties for offenders. Despite this, however, high numbers of assaults persist.
Last month, police arrested two men for shooting dead a 14-year-old girl who resisted their advances in Uttar Pradesh state.
Also in February, a teenage rape victim was sexually assaulted for a second time while in hospital receiving treatment for the initial attack in eastern Jharkhand state.
* Agence France-Presse, with additional reporting by Associated Press
