Amid outrage over a spate of rape incidents in Haryana, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today met the family of a Dalit teenaged girl, who immolated herself after being allegedly gang-raped in this district and said perpetrators of such "barbaric" crimes must be given severe punishment.

She said those guilty of such heinous crimes, which take place not only in Haryana but elsewhere too, must be "severely punished".

"Main is tarah ki ghatnaon ki bharpoor ninda karti hoon. Doshiyoon ko sakht se sakht saza milni chahiye (I strongly condemn such incidents. The guilty must be severely punished)," Sonia told reporters in a brief interaction at village Sachha Khera in Narwana town of this district.

She met the victim's family after her arrival at about 10 am and assured them of all possible help.

After her meeting, Sonia, when asked to comment on the growing number of such cases in Haryana in the recent past, said such crimes do not take place in the state alone, but other parts of the country as well and were condemnable.

She assured "full justice" to the poor Dalit victim's family during her meeting that lasted a few minutes.

The gang-rape victim had on Saturday doused herself with kerosene and in her dying statement made before a Magistrate said she took the extreme step after her rape.

After the incident, the mother of the victim, who has six children, had threatened that if justice was not done, she too would commit suicide.

Sonia was accompanied by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who met the victim's family for the first time after the incident on Saturday. Union Minister Kumari Selja, Haryana Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala and Congress MP from Sirsa, Ashok Tanwar were also present.

In April last year, Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi had made an unscheduled trip to Mirchpur village in Hisar to meet a Dalit family two of whose members-- a teenaged daughter and 70-year-old father-- were burnt alive.

After Sonia's meeting with the family, Haryana's Industry Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said, "We condemn such heinous crimes. The State Government is fully behind the victim's family. The guilty will be brought to book".

The Haryana Government has drawn flak from all quarters, particularly the opposition, for its alleged failure to prevent incidents of crime against women.

The 16-year-old girl had sprinkled kerosene and immolated herself after allegedly being gang-raped by two youths in the village that falls in Narwana sub-division of the district, about 140 km from State capital Chandigarh.

The victim had breathed her last at Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences at Rohtak, where she was rushed to from Narwana Civil hospital here with 90 per cent burn injuries on Saturday.

The Jind rape was the twelfth incident within a span of about a month in Haryana and the third in this district alone.

Meanwhile, the mother of the Saturday's Jind gangrape victim said Sonia Gandhi has assured all possible help to the family.

"On meeting her I broke down into tears. She (Sonia) hugged me and said my daughter is her daughter and she will ensure that justice is delivered," Rajkali, the victim's mother, said.

"We were assured of all sorts of help by madam (Sonia). She sat with us on a chair and consoled us," the victim's father Balraj told reporters after the Congress president met the family in their two-room house on the outskirts of Sachha Khera village.

Police have arrested five persons, including main accused Pradeep and a Haryana policeman, in the case.