BHOPAL/BETUL: Battling for life for five days, a 16-year-old rape victim, who allegedly set herself ablaze in Betul district, succumbed to burns on Thursday. The girl was undergoing treatment in Amravati district of Maharashtra since July 25, after sustaining 90 per cent burn injuries.
The accused have been arrested and booked under the POCSO Act and for abetment to suicide, SI Basant Ahake said.
The accused Aditya Kubre, 22, would sexually assault the girl whenever her family members were away. He would threaten the girl to harm her family if she spoke about him to anyone.
In her dying declaration, the girl told Amravati police about the horrific incident. She told them that Kubre, who also lives in her village, sexually assaulted her three times. The girl parents, both labourers, would leave for work leaving her and their younger son home. The man raped her thrice before she took the extreme step. The girl told police that the man used to come to her home whenever her parents were out and sexually assaulted her. He always threatened her that he would kill her brother if she spoke about the incident to anyone. On Sunday when he sexually assaulted the minor for the third time, the girl decided to kill herself, police said. On the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, the minor set herself ablaze. When her parents heard her shrieks, they broke open the door and doused flames. They rushed her to a hospital in Varon where she was referred to Maharashtra.
