Monday, May 7, 2018

Recently two teenage girls were raped and then burned alive in Jharkhand, India

One 16-year-old girl was kidnapped from her home while her family attended a wedding. The group of men took her to a deserted area, then raped her. When the girl's father found out about the attack, he went to his village council and demanded retribution, according to officials. Four of the accused men were ordered to do 100 sit-ups and pay the girl's family about $734, reports said. The attackers were reportedly furious that the girl's father had gone to authorities. The next day, the attackers broke into the girl's home, beat her parents and then set the teenager on fire. She did not survive. Twenty men have been arrested in connection with the crime, police officials said. Officials will also seek to punish the village council for “trivializing” the rape, according to police. Another girl, 17 years old, suffered the same violence. The cases are unrelated, authorities said. The teenager was attacked by a man who wanted to marry her, officials said. The man came to visit her at her relatives' home in Pakur. She rejected his proposal, telling him she was too young to wed, according to officials. The assailant waited until the girl was alone, then broke into her house and raped her before setting her alight. Neighbors reported hearing screams as they rushed to help. The teenager is in critical condition in the hospital. Police said that she suffered burns over 95% of her body. The assaults are the latest in a string of vicious attacks on girls and women in India. In January 2018, an 8-year-old Kashmiri Muslim girl was gang-raped, drugged and murdered. Eight men were arrested for the crime, which sparked protests across the country. There were 40,000 rape cases reported in India in 2016, the most recent year in which data is available. Experts believe the true number is far higher. Many sexual assaults go unreported because of the stigma faced by victims of sexual assault and their families.

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