‘She Was On Fire, Screaming’: Odisha Man Recalls Girl Seeking Help After Being Set Ablaze

‘She Was On Fire, Screaming’: A 15-year-old girl who was set on fire by three miscreants in Odisha’s Puri district was airlifted to Delhi on Sunday. She has over 70 per cent burns and is critical.

Dukshishyam Senapati, the man who saved her life, recounted the 90 minutes she spent in his home before being taken to the hospital.

Senapati said the incident occurred around 8:30 am on Saturday. He was alerted by knocks and screams and opened the door to find the girl on fire. “With the help of my wife, I doused the fire and gave her water. She was very thirsty. Later, the women of my family changed her clothes,” he told Odisha DGP YB Khurania, who visited the spot a day later.

The girl, trembling, told Senapati that she was abducted by three unknown men on motorcycles while returning home from a friend’s place. “They had half-covered faces and took her near the Bhargavi riverbank. She said they tied her hands, covered her face with a handkerchief, poured some substance on her, and set her ablaze,” Senapati recalled. When she reached his house, her hands were no longer tied.

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Senapati said the girl told him her father’s name and her village. He informed her family and then a crowd gathered. “I could not speak to her much after that. A lot of people assembled quickly at our house,” he said.

The man who saved her life after she was abducted and set on fire, recounted how she knocked on his door and said “save me, save me”.

Senapati told the DGP that the attackers seemed to have fled immediately after setting the girl on fire, assuming she would not survive. “The brave girl ran away and reached our house,” he said.

He said the 108 ambulance arrived late by which time they were already preparing to shift her in an auto-rickshaw. “The girl stayed around 90 minutes in our place,” he said, adding that the crime has caused panic in the village. “Our children are hesitant to go outside alone. We demand immediate arrest of the culprits,” Senapati added.

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The patient was shifted to Delhi after AIIMS Bhubaneswar Executive Director Ashutosh Biswas told reporters that the patient’s condition was stable, her blood pressure improved and it was safe to shift her.

As the victim was able to speak, the police recorded her statement on Saturday in the presence of a magistrate at the ICU. Her statement is crucial for the investigation.

According to PTI sources, the police have interrogated at least 10 people in the last 36 hours, including some women and the victim’s family members.

Preliminary police investigation revealed that three motorcycle-borne youths intercepted the teenager, took her to the banks of Bhargavi River near Bayabar village in Balanga police station area, poured an inflammable substance on her and set her on fire.

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