Reports of the attack come amid shock over the death of a 16-year-old girl in Jharkhand's Chatra district who was raped and burned to death.
ADVERTISEMENTA teenage girl was battling for her life in India on Monday after being raped, doused in kerosene and set on fire on Friday in the eastern state of Jharkhand, where a 16-year-old was raped and burned to death in a separate attack on the same day, according to police.
"The girl has suffered 70% first-degree burns. There is a chance that she will survive," Shailendra Barnwal, police superintendent of Pakur district, told AFP news agency.
The official said police have arrested a 19-year-old man who lives in the same neighbourhood as the latest victim and is believed to have “poured kerosene on the girl and set her on fire.”
Reports of the attack come amid shock over the death of a 16-year-old girl in Jharkhand's Chatra district in a similar incident.
The main suspect in that case is said to have been angered by a village council decision that he should do 100 sit-ups and pay a $750 fine for raping the girl, after which he attacked her parents and set their house on fire with the teenager inside.
Some 40,000 cases of rape were reported in India in 2016, while new police figures indicate that more than five women were raped every day in the Indian capital New so far this year.
The gang-rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in Jammu and Kashmir state is set to be raised in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.