Protestors in Bihar demand death for Bengal rape accused

Hundreds of people took to streets in Bihar Friday demanding death sentence to the attackers of a 16-year-old girl who was raped and set ablaze in West Bengal, while an ex-gratia payment of Rs1 lakh was given from the Bihar Chief Minister's Fund to her family.

"We want nothing less than death sentence to the accused in the case," Smita Singh, one of the protestors, said in Patna.

People in the girl's home district of Samastipur also staged an angry demonstration and urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take up the issue with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

"It is an issue of justice to the victim and her family. The state government should intervene in it," said activist Anish Ankur.

A top Bihar Police official was sent to Kolkata to meet the girl's family and hand over the ex-gratia payment, said an official from the Chief Minister's Office.

The girl's father is a native of Shahpur Patori in Samastipur district, about 100 km from here.

The girl was allegedly twice raped by a gang in October. She breathed her last at a hospital in Kolkata after she was admitted with severe burn injuries Dec 23.

The victim in her dying declaration said two of the rape accused set her on fire. Police have initiated murder charges against the accused, six of whom are behind bars in West Bengal.