15-year-old girl gangraped, burnt

Bhopal: A 15-year-old girl was gangraped and then set on fire by two youths in a Madhya Pradesh village on Friday. The gruesome incident took place in the village of Deval in Sagar district.

The victim suffered over 80 per cent burn injuries and was battling for her life in the Bundelkhand Medical College Hospital, the investigating officer told this newspaper. “Her condition was stated to be critical,” the police officer posted in Bhangarh police station said. According to the police, the accused, identified as Raghavendra Sen and Shubham Yadav, entered the victim’s house when she was alone and gangraped her.

Both of them hailed from her village. The accused poured kerosene on her and then set her on fire before fleeing the spot, police said.

Neighbours who reached the victim’s house after hearing her cries rushed her to the Bundelkhand Medical College Hospital in the district. “We have arrested one of the accused and a manhunt was launched to nab the other”, the police officer said.

This was the second  rape of a minor reported in the state after the MP Assembly unanimously passed a bill awarding death sentence to the rapists of girls aged 12 and below, on December 4.