Kolkata teen, who set herself on fire after being allegedly gang-raped, dies in hospital

Kolkata: In Kolkata, a 16-year-old girl who set herself on fire last week after she was allegedly gang-raped twice by the same set of people in October, died in hospital on Tuesday. The girl was allegedly being harassed by friends of the accused rapists.

Her distraught parents have demanded the death sentence for the rapists and those who tormented her so much she set herself ablaze.

"I will fight the case. I will not let them go. I will not take my last breath till they are hanged. That's my promise," said the teenager's father.

The girl's father, a taxi driver, had moved his family from Madhyamgram, about 40 km from Kolkata, to the airport area closer to the city. This, because friends of the accused and arrested rapists would constantly threaten the girl. They wanted her to withdraw the police complaint against the alleged rapists.

But even in their new home they were not spared.  Neighbours, too, became aware of her identity. The alleged rapists' friends tracked them down and continued to harass the family in their new home.  Finally, the girl could take it no more and, on December 23, when there was no one at home, she set herself on fire.

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Several women's rights activists had tried to help the family. They are now claiming government apathy towards the girl. They claim that the government-run RG Kar hospital where the girl was admitted did not have a proper burn unit and they had wanted her shifted to a better equipped hospital, SSKM. But that was not done.  

"Deliberately she was kept here and now this very much established they wanted the girl should die without proper medical treatment," said activist Bharati Mutsuddi.

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Protests broke out at the hospital after news of the girl's death spread, by DSO, the youth organisation of a party called the Socialist Unity Centre of India. More protests are expected on Wednesday.