Girl set afire for protesting eve-teasing dies

A minor school girl from Kalahandi, set afire by miscreants last week for resisting eve-teasing, succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday after a week-long battle for survival at a hospital in Rourkela.

Tapaswini Rana, a student of class 10th of TRW School at Madhupur village in Kalahandi district of Odisha was set afire by two youths, identified as Sana Sahoo and Bulu Das for protesting against eve-teasing in the village.

The miscreants had passed vulgar comments at the girl, who in turn had informed her family. Her mother had cautioned the two youths but the duo, on January 11, took advantage of her being along in the house and set her afire.

She was admitted to a hospital at Burla and later shifted to Ispat General Hospital (IGH) after her condition deteriorated.

“We have provided Rs 2,000 from Red Cross and a vehicle to transport the girl’s body to her village after post-mortem,” said Rourkela Additional District Magistrate Monisha Banerjee.

The crime branch of Odisha Police is probing the incident and six people, including the two prime accused, have been arrested in connection with the case.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, who visited the hospital, expressed concern over the death of the minor girl.

“I demand Rs 10 lakh compensation for the victim’s family and stringent action against the culprits so that nobody will dare to commit such crime in future,” Oram said.

The tribal affairs ministed added that he would also request the central govenrment to make arrangement to provide financial assistance to the victim’s family.