Officials on Monday said a 17-year-old girl was battling for her life in India’s eastern state of Jharkhand after she was raped and set on fire.

A 19-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the crime, which happened on Friday, the same day that another teenage girl was raped and burnt alive elsewhere in the state.

That incident led to arrests of 15 people.

“The girl was alone at her relative’s home in a village in Pakur district when a man from the neighbourhood sexually assaulted her,” district spokesman Pramod Kumar Jha said by phone.

“He later poured kerosene on her and set her ablaze and fled from the scene,” he said.

The victim was admitted to hospital with serious burn injuries.

Police were questioning the suspect who will be tried in a fast-track court.

The crimes from Jharkhand have been reported against the backdrop of spiralling outrage over the rape and killing of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir and several other cases of sexual assault of young girls in recent months.

India’s federal government recently approved stringent punishments for sexual violence against children, including the death penalty for those convicted of raping girls younger than 12. (NAN)

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