13-Year-Old Raped, Burned Alive by Three Men in India

A 13-year-old female was gang-raped and set on fire by Ram Bahadur and his two friends in Orai in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India.

Residents describe Bahadur as the “local goon.” The three have not been arrested.

The victim, a class 8 student, was a resident of Nipaniya village under the limits of Sirsa Kalar police station of the district. According to the complaint lodged by her father, on the evening of October 22, she along with her elder sister had gone to use the toilet situated at the farm when a local hoodlum Ram Bahadur along with his two accomplices arrived on the scene.

The trio forcibly dragged her to a nearby secluded spot and gang-raped her.

Later, when the girl and her sister threatened the goons that they will report the matter to the police, the trio set her on fire.

Thereafter, the hoodlums escaped before issuing serious threats to her elder sister, who rushed back to the village and apprised her family and other neighbours about the shocking incident.

She was rushed to the hospital and 80% of her body was covered in burns. She passed away early Wednesday morning. Her father said the officers at the Niyamatpur police post did not want to lodge a complaint against the rapists, but the local officials told the Indo-Asian News Service the family did not want to file one. Instead the police are acting on information from others to find the rapists.

These incidents were brought to the international news in December 2012 when a young woman was gang-raped on a bus in New Dehli. She died 13 days later and the men were sentenced to death in September. This attack started nationwide protests for more protection for women and demand changes in attitudes toward sexual violence. Kavita Krishnan of All India Progressive Women’s association said many blame the victim.

“Victim blaming is a huge problem is India,” she said. “It’s rampant — politicians do it, the police do it, lots of influential people in society do it. But it’s not like it only happens in India.”

Krishnan said that there’s been little accountability of police, who often refuse to adequately investigate rape accusations.

“Essentially, it’s a pressure tactic to get the family to withdraw the case,” Krishnan said, in some cases because “the perpetrators of such offenses may be locally known, they may be powerful.”

Acid attacks on women are very common. A young woman was burned when she turned down her ex-boyfriend’s marriage proposal. He grabbed her and poured acid down her mouth. She tried to escape, some landed on her face.