Student Found Naked, With Severe Burns On Highway After Alleged Gang Rape Attempt

A college student who was found naked and with severe burns on a national highway in India was allegedly set on fire after an attempted gang rape, police said.

The victim, whose identity has not been revealed, was found with severe burn injuries in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Monday, hours after she was reported missing.

According to Police Superintendent S Anand, the woman told the investigators that three people had tried to rape her in a field. The suspects allegedly poured kerosene on her and set her on fire when she resisted the rape, reported The Hindustan Times.

The police officer however added that the victim was constantly changing her statements and was unaware of how she had reached the hospital from the third floor of her college building.

The woman, who suffered 72% burns, is undergoing treatment at the hospital. She is now in stable condition, hospital officials said.

Investigators said that the video surveillance inside the college building shows the woman coming down alone from the third floor. "Investigations with the help of CCTV footage have found that the girl went out of the college campus from a broken outer wall about 20 minutes after entering the premises and was seen walking alone on a canal road," Anand said.

Asif Ali, one of the people who first discovered the woman, said she had been found lying naked on the national highway. Some villagers covered her with a stole before alerting the police, a report from India Today said.

Police sources said some suspects have been taken into custody for questioning and the authorities are very close to cracking the case.

In a similar incident in Uttar Pradesh, India, in November last year, a 15-year-old girl died after being set to fire by the acquaintances of the man who raped her. The girl, who was reportedly raped in August, filed a police complaint. The acquaintances of the suspect threatened her and her family to withdraw the complaint.

But when her family refused to back down, the suspect's acquaintances broke into their house, dozed her in petrol and set her ablaze. The victim was taken to the hospital but did not survive.