By Jatindra Dash
BHUBANESWAR, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An 11-year-old girl in eastern India was burnt to death by two women for disclosing the names of their daughters who had stolen some pomegranates with her from the garden of a villager, police said.
The two women poured kerosene over the girl and set her alight in Balinali village in the Indian state of Odisha, about 300 km (186 miles) from state capital Bhubaneswar.
"It was a heinous act. We arrested the women after they confessed to the crime," police officer Ananda Dungdung told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The victim and her two friends had allegedly stolen pomegranates from the garden of a neighbour a day earlier. She allegedly disclosed the names of her friends to the neighbour, despite being warned against doing so by their family members.
Angered by the disclosure, the women entered the victim's house early on Thursday when she was alone and poured kerosene on her before setting her on fire.
The victim was rushed to the nearby hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.
Girls and women face a barrage of threats in India ranging from female foeticide, dowry deaths, rape, trafficking, child marriage and acid attacks.
Although many girls and women suffer at the hands of their fathers, husbands and other men, they are also often subjected to violence by other women.
(Editing by Nita Bhalla)
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