Locked in classroom, 8-yr-old girl tries to squeeze through grill; stuck for 18 hrs

The girl had dozed off on one of the benches in the classroom on Thursday afternoon and found herself locked in the room when she woke up

Published on: Aug 22, 2025, 22:32:29 IST

By Debabrata Mohanty

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Bhubaneswar: An eight-year-old girl whose head was stuck in the grill of her classroom’s window for 18 hours in Odisha’s Keonjhar was finally rescued on Friday morning when a staffer found her, people familiar with the matter said.

Three school children doing math equations on the blackboard (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The girl had dozed off on one of the benches in the classroom on Thursday afternoon. When she woke up, she found herself locked up in the room and tried to squeeze through the iron grills on the window, but her head got stuck.

Keonjhar district collector Vishal Singh suspended school headmaster Gourahari Mahanta for dereliction of duty.

School teachers said the child, Jyotsna Dehury, was feeling sleepy late and lay down on one of the benches in her classroom on Thursday afternoon. She was soon fast asleep.

“The cook normally checks everything before locking the classroom after school hours. But she was absent on Thursday due to heavy rains. We asked two senior students of Class 7 to lock the rooms. The older students likely missed her sleeping and put out the light before closing the windows and locking the doors of the classroom,” her class teacher Sanjita Das said.

The Class 2 student found herself locked in the classroom when she woke up, and she tried to squeeze through the iron grills. But her head got stuck.

Jhunu Dehury, the girl’s mother, said she found her daughter missing when she returned from work at 9 pm. “When I asked other children, they told me that she was asleep. I asked them why they didn’t wake her up. Then I thought that she might have fallen asleep at somebody’s house and would return home in the morning. When she didn’t return in the morning, we went to the school. After opening the room, my daughter was found stuck in the school window,” she said.

“The villagers bent the iron grill and rescued the girl. She was immediately rushed to the local hospital. Her condition was stable after treatment,” said Sita Patra, the cook of the school.

The girl was taken to hospital for treatment and to monitor her condition.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debabrata Mohanty
Debabrata Mohanty is a senior assistant editor of Hindustan Times who works as state correspondent from Odisha covering the state's politics, governance, public policy, natural disasters, environment and its society for close to three decades. With his long years of reporting from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, Mohanty has been known as one of the most experienced and credible journalists covering Odisha for the national English dailies. His reporting combines on-ground detail with deep institutional knowledge detailing the state's changing politics, governance issues, administrative reforms and the functioning of its public institutions. He has regularly reported on issues ranging from legislative developments and public policy implementation. Politics is his core areas of expertise as he closely tracks Odisha's political landscape, including the rise and transformation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the two principal political parties in Odisha. His long association with the state's political establishment enables him to write on contemporary developments in a larger political context. Mohanty takes a deep interest in writing human interest stories, environmental issues and documenting the impact of cyclones, floods, heatwaves, and other climate-related events in one of the most disaster-prone states. His coverage extends to public health, governance reforms and stories on accountability of government institutions. Before joining Hindustan Times, Mohanty worked with The Indian Express, Mail Today, and The Telegraph, where he covered at least six general elections and as many assembly elections. In 2007, he was selected for the prestigious Chevening Young Indian Print Journalist Programme at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, where he received advanced training in print journalism. In 2009 he won the Press Institute of India-International Committee of Red Cross award on conflict reporting for his on-ground reportage of 2008 Kandhamal riots.Read More

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