Punjab: 12-year-old set on fire after rape, dies

The girl alleged that she was repeatedly raped by a man for eight days before being set on fire.

Family of 12-year old who died after rape and being put on fire, protest in Moti Nagar on Thursday. (Source: Express Photo)

A 12-year-old girl died on Thursday morning after being allegedly set on fire by a 19-year old man, who is also accused of repeatedly raping her in the last eight days.

Sunil, 19, allegedly poured kerosene on the girl last night at her residence in Balwinder Singh ka vehra (one-room houses) in Sherpur area following which she was rushed to Ludhiana Civil Hospital with more than 95 percent burns.

The girl named Sunil in her statement before a magistrate and said that he threatened to kill her if she revealed anything to her parents.

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Speaking to Indian Express, RS Cheema, Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) south, said, “The girl used to stay at home and the accused was teasing her for days. She was being repeatedly raped since 8-10 days and she did not reveal it to her parents. Yesterday, she decided to tell to her parents but before that Sunil poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze.”

The gynecologist, who performed a medical check up before her death, confirmed to the police that the girl was brutally raped.

She was referred to PGIMER Chandigarh after her condition became extremely critical, but succumbed to burn injuries on her way.

Tension gripped Sherpur area after her family blocked traffic and staged protest with the dead body demanding Sunil’s arrest.

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An FIR has been registered at Focal Point police station in which police has booked the father and two brothers of the accused under section 120-B (conspiracy) of IPC. His father Harish and two brothers, Anil and Laxman (aged 19 and 22), have now been arrested. The main accused, Sunil, is still absconding.

Divya Goyal

Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on “Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers” had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More

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