A minor Dalit girl who was allegedly gang-raped and set ablaze by two men in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit district on September 7 succumbed to her injuries today, according to media reports.
Earlier this month, two men gang-raped the sixteen-year-old in Kunwarpur village of the district. The accused then reportedly poured diesel on her and set her on fire.
The victim had been battling for her life at a hospital in Lucknow for the past 12 days, as per media reports.
The two accused, Rajveer (19) and Tarachand alias Tarun Kumar (25), were arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Schedule Castes/Schedule Tribes Act, and sent to jail, as reported by The Quint.
The deceased girl’s body will be handed over to her family following post-mortem formalities.
On Saturday, the body of a 15-year-old Dalit girl was recovered near a railway line in Uttar Pradesh's Budaun. A case of murder and rape along with sections of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act) was lodged against the accused who was arrested a day later.
Last week, two Dalit sisters were found hanging from a tree in a sugarcane field located about a kilometre away from their house in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri. The post-mortem reports confirmed that they were raped and strangulated.