Raped for days, girl burnt alive in Ludhiana

The girl’s younger sister was playing outside while her parents were away at a relative’s place when the incident occurred, according to police.

A 12-year-old girl died Thursday morning, a day after she was allegedly set on fire by a 19-year-old man who had raped her for the past eight days.

Sunil, the main accused, allegedly poured kerosene on the girl and set her on fire at her parents’ one-room home in Sherpur area. She suffered more than 95 per cent burns.

The girl’s younger sister was playing outside while her parents were away at a relative’s place when the incident occurred, according to police.

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Rushed to Civil Hospital Ludhiana, the girl recorded her statement in a critical condition in front of the magistrate, stating that Sunil had been raping her for the past eight days and had threatened to kill her if she revealed it to her parents.

R S Cheema, ACP south, told The Indian Express, “The girl used to stay home. The accused had been teasing her for some time. She was repeatedly raped over the past 8-10 days but she did not reveal it to her parents. Yesterday, she decided to tell her parents about it but before that Sunil poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze.”

The condition of the girl turned critical Thursday, following which she was referred to PGIMER Chandigarh, but she succumbed to her injuries before she could reach there.

Cheema said, “The girl’s family alleged that proper treatment was not provided due to which she died but doctors had referred her to PGI. She died even before we could shift her.” AN FIR has been registered at the Focal Point Police Station.

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The girl’s family, alleging medical negligence on the part of Ludhiana Civil Hospital, protested with her body on the road. However, the police convinced them for autopsy. Medical check-up confirmed rape, police said.

The accused owns a small vegetable vend in the same area. His father, Harish, and two brothers, Anil and Laxman (aged 19 and 22), have been arrested for conspiracy.

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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