In Assam’s Nagaon, 11-year-old gangraped, burnt alive; two juveniles arrested

An 11-year-old Class V student died on Friday night after being allegedly gangraped and set ablaze by three men in Lalung Gaon village of Assam’s Nagaon district. The minor was taken to a local hospital with severe burn injuries, and later referred to a Guwahati hospital where she died, the police said. Of the three accused, two are juveniles and are currently in police custody. The third accused is absconding. “The victim could not survive the incident. She succumbed to her injuries last night. She had been brought to Guwahati for medical treatment and died here. We have taken her dying statement and she had identified the three accused. Of them, we have arrested two of the accused. They are both minors. They have been produced before the juvenile justice board and action is being taken against them as per law,”said Nagaon Superintendent of Police Shankar Raimedhi told IndianExpress.com. The SP added the girl knew the accused since they lived in the same village. According to the police, the perpetrators barged into the victim’s house when her parents were away and gangraped her. They later poured kerosene on her and set her on fire, the victim told the police. No medical test could be conducted because of the severity of her burns, said police adding that it has has filed a complaint of rape and homicide. Silchar MP Sushmita Dev slammed the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP government in the state for failing to deter criminals. “What kind of people are these. Shocking and disgusting. @sarbanandsonwal give deterrence of crime against women priority,” she tweeted. This is the second recent incident of gangrape in Nagaon. On March 17, the Nagaon police arrested eight people in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 35-year-old woman.