A 24-year old woman was set on fire after being allegedly raped by her neighbour at a village in north Bengal’s Darjeeling district.

Daughter of a rickshaw van puller, the victim is in hospital with 35% burns. According to the FIR lodged by Sunil Das, a resident of Ramdhoj village under Bagdogra police station, on December 15: “One Santosh Baroi took my daughter to his house on the night of December 14. He raped her and set her on fire after pouring kerosene on her.”

Siliguri commissioner of police Anand Kumar said, “The accused is absconding. It was not a case of gangrape.”

The role of the local police has come under the scanner.

A doctor at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, where the victim is being treated, said, “The police swung into action only after the Delhi gangrape hit the national headlines.”

The doctor pointed out, “Though the FIR had clearly mentioned rape, the police did not immediately take the woman for a medical test.”

It was only from December 18 that the police got active and are doing what they should have done earlier,” the doctor said.