File photo of the girl in hospital
The four men who set a 17-year-old girl on fire in Rajasthan's Dholpur on Sunday after she resisted their attempts to molest her, happen to be her relatives.
The girl, who sustained 60 per cent burns, was shifted to a hospital in Jaipur this morning. In her statement to the police, she had named her attackers, whom the police have detained for questioning.
"The accused men include my uncle and two cousins," the girl's mother told NDTV. "The family lives right across my house."
All four had barged into the house when they found the girl alone - her mother had gone visiting other relatives on the occasion of rakhi. When she resisted their attempts to molest her, they sprinkled kerosene on her and set her on fire.
The neighbours, though, appear convinced that the girl had attempted suicide. And the extended family claims the men are being framed.
"Their house stands next to ours. The girl and her sisters were at home when the incident supposedly took place. There appears to have been an altercation among them. The men are being framed without any reason," said one of the relatives of the accused men.
The police have registered a case of attempt to murder, trespass and one under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, or Posco Act.
The incident brings into focus the rising number of crimes against women. Last year, the Vasundhara Raje government had come to power with a key promise of improving the law and order situation. But Rajasthan still figures among the five states that report the highest number of crimes against women.