15-year-old schoolgirl dies after being set ablaze

15-year-old Indian schoolgirl dies of burns after attack. Men riding on a motor bike doused petrol on her and set her on fire. [Courtesy]

An Indian schoolgirl has died in hospital of severe burns after two men set fire to her on a busy street, authorities said on Friday, in the latest of a series of attacks on women in the tourist city of Agra.

Police said they did not know the motive for the attack, in which men on a motorbike stopped the girl and doused her with petrol earlier this week. She died in a Delhi hospital on Thursday and her cousin committed suicide after seeing her condition, they added.

No arrests have yet been made. “We have interrogated six-seven persons in this connection. The investigation is still under way,” said Akhilesh Narain Singh, superintendent of police in Agra.

Last week, four men abducted and gang-raped a college student on the banks of the river Yamuna in the city, in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

In 2016, the state reported 4,954 crimes against women and children, the highest in the country, official data showed.