A 13-year-old girl set on fire for resisting an attempted rape by a 26-year-old man in the Khammam district of Telangana, succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Thursday night, after fighting for her life. for almost two weeks. .
“The minor succumbed to burns while being treated in Hyderabad. We have now registered a murder case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code,” said Khamman Police Commissioner Taufseer Iqbal.
The girl worked as a domestic worker at the home of the defendant Allam Maraiah in Mustafa Nagar in the Khammam district of Telangana. In her declaration of death registered in the first week of October, the victim said that she was groped by her employer on September 18, who tried to force her. When she resisted the attempted rape, he poured gasoline on her and set her on fire.
However, the FIR was registered fifteen days after the incident came to light on October 4, when the condition of the girl, who was being treated in secret at a private Khamman hospital, became critical.
The police commissioner said that the defendant’s family had secretly transferred the victim to a local hospital, on the pretext that he had suffered accidental burns. “We received specific information on the actual condition of the victim on October 4, after which we began an investigation of the case and detained the accused.”
Khammam Pollice officials said that days after the September 18 incident, the defendant visited the minor’s family in Pallegudem and informed them that the victim was admitted to hospital for minor burns and was being cared for by them.
The girl’s family learned of her actual condition only after the police contacted them in the first week of October.
The 26-year-old defendant, a married man whose wife is five months pregnant, has been charged with murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. These charges are in addition to a case brought against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO), after which he was arrested on October 4. He has also been prosecuted under section 201 of the Indian Penal Code for attempting to suppress the incident and giving false information.
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