A 16-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl has been raped, doused in petrol and torched to death 'by her neighbour' in the latest sex attack to shock India.

The schoolgirl, from Dildarnaga, was alone in her home on Saturday when a neighbouring youth broke in and raped her, according to Indian media.

In a statement reportedly made by the youngster before her death, she told police the accused tried to force her to elope with him.

When she refused, he doused her in petrol and set her on fire.

Hearing her cries, neighbours rushed to the scene and took the terrified youngster to the local police station, where she was rushed to hospital.

She died from her injuries during a journey to a trauma centre in Varanasi.

DEATHBED STATEMENT TO POLICE

Arvind Chaturvedi, the Ghazipur superintendent of police, told The Times of India: "The girl died on the way to Varanasi and the body has been sent for post mortem."

He said several teams had been send to arrest the youngster based on the girl’s statement and a complaint from her brother.

India has seen a number of high profile rape cases in recent years, leading to widespread protests.

In January, an engineering student was subjected to a two-day gang rape before being left for dead in a wood in the eastern state of Odisha.

The 20-year-old woman was left in critical condition following the attack which started when a man claiming to be friends with her brother approached her while she waited for a train.

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The man wrongly told her that, due to repair work on the line, trains were not running to her destination and suggested she travel with him instead.

Rage at such brutal attacks, and the government's failure to address the culture that allows them, have rocked India since the gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh on a Delhi bus in 2012.

Despite global outcry, the number of rapes in India actually soared in the years afterwards.

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