A 16-year-old girl has been raped and burned alive in the third case of its kind in India this month.

The teenager died from burns she suffered after being set alight by a 26-year-old man who launched the attack after she said she would tell her family about the rape in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh state.

Two other teenagers were victims of similar attacks a week earlier in Jharkhand state. One died and one is fighting for her life in hospital.

The latest teenager was alone at her home when she was raped, police said on Friday.

A 16-year-old girl has been raped and burned alive in the third case of its kind in Indian this month. File picture shows protests after a spate of rape attacks in India

'We have arrested the two accused. One of them is the cousin of the girl who informed the main suspect that she was alone in the house,' said Sagar district police superintendent Satyendra Kumar Shukla.

'The main accused is married with a child,' Kumar told AFP.

Last week, 14 men were arrested after a 16-year-old girl was raped and burned alive at her home in Jharkhand state, when her family complained of her ordeal.

The teenager was abducted from her home while her family was attending a wedding, and she was raped in a forested area.

Two other teenagers were victims of similar attacks a week earlier in Jharkhand state. One died and one is fighting for her life in hospital. File picture shows a protest in Ranchi, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand

Days later, a 17-year-old girl was fighting for her life on Monday after being raped, doused in kerosene and set alight in the same state.

Indian authorities have faced renewed pressure to act on sexual assaults, notably after brutal gang rape and killing of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Jammu and Kashmir state sparked demonstrations.

The cases are the most high-profile since the 2012 rape and murder of a student on a New Delhi bus that triggered mass protests.