BHUBANESWAR, July 19: A 15-year-old girl was set on fire by unidentified persons in Odisha’s Puri district on Saturday, officials said.
The girl is undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar and she is in a critical condition, having suffered 70 per cent burn injuries, but she is able to speak, they said.
Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida, who is in charge of the Women and Child Development Department, said the government will bear the expenses of the girl’s treatment and that the police have been asked to arrest the culprits as soon as possible.
The incident comes close on the heels of a 20-year-old college student of FM College in Balasore immolating herself over sexual harassment on July 12. She died on July 14.
BJD supremo and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Naveen Patnaik, expressed deep anguish over the incident and said such cases point to a systemic failure of governance.
The incident took place at Bayabar village in Balanga police station area around 9 am when the girl was returning from her friend’s house.
Preliminary investigation revealed that three unidentified motorcycle-borne youths intercepted her, forcibly took her to the banks of Bhargavi River, poured an inflammable substance on her, and set her on fire, a police officer said.
The miscreants fled the spot after setting the girl on fire. Local people doused the fire and later took her to Pipili government hospital, from where she was shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar.
The girl’s parents lodged an FIR with Balanga police station, the officer said, adding she was a class 8 dropout and her father works at an automobile repair workshop.
AIIMS Bhubaneswar formed a 14-member team of doctors for the proper treatment of the girl. The committee comprises doctors from medicine, pulmonary medicine, anesthesia, gynecology, forensic medicine, nephrology, cardiology and other departments.
Odisha Director General of Police Y B Khurania asserted that the police will soon nab the accused persons. Scientific teams are engaged in the investigation. No one has been detained or arrested so far, the SP said. (PTI)
