Teenaged rape victim sets self on fire, dies

MUMBAI: A teenaged rape victim, who was admitted to Thane Civil Hospital with severe burns after an immolation bid, died early on Monday.
The deceased, a tribal girl from Rasgaon at Shahapur in Thane district had set herself on fire after she was allegedly raped by her 25-year-old neighbour.
"The accused was a carpenter who lived next door to the girl. At 10 pm on October 11, when the girl went out to answer nature's call, the man followed her there.Threatening her with a knife, he took her into the nearby woods and raped her by a river. After this, he took the girl to his house where he raped her several times the next day,'' said the investigating officer, C Y Kshirsagar from the Shahapur police. The girls' parents, who work as daily wage labourers, searched for her in the village and the surroundings, but did not lodge a police complaint. The accused finally released the girl at 4 am on October 13, not before threatening her with dire consequences if she told anyone about what had happened, the police said. On reaching home, the victim poured oil over herself and set herself ablaze.
She was taken to Shahapur Hospital from where she was transferred to Thane Civil Hospital. "The girl was brought to us with 82% burns. In such cases, patients do not usually survive, but she fought on for quite a few days. She died of her injuries early on Monday,'' said Dr A B Nandpurkar, RMO (clinical) of Thane Civil Hospital.
The police is on the look out for the absconding accused.