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12-yr-old Jharkhand girl dies of burn injuries after boiling milk falls on her
The incident took place on October 28 and the girl, identified as Bhumika Tigga - a student of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya - died during treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi on Wednesday.
A 12-year-old girl succumbed to burn injuries after boiling milk fell on her at a government residential school at Silli, about 65-km from state capital Ranchi, police said on Thursday.
The incident took place on October 28 and the girl, identified as Bhumika Tigga - a student of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya - died during treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi on Wednesday, Silli police station in-charge Chiranjeet Prasad said.
“School management did not give any information to the police regarding the incident. We got the news from local media persons,” said Prasad who inspected the school on Thursday.
During interrogation, some eyewitnesses of the incident told police that they were in queue for the afternoon meal at the kitchen when the incident took place.
“Bhumika slipped in the pushing and shoving while others were in queue. She could not keep her balance and fell on the container, in which 30 litres of milk was boiling. The hot milk fell on her,” students told Prasad. He said a case of unnatural death would be filed in the incident.
School authorities said three students got injured in the incident. Two girl students received minor injury while trying to save Bhumika. They were released after giving first-aid at Jonha health centre.
“Bhumika was referred to RIMS by Sunday evening. The girl was fine when she was shifted to RIMS. But, we do not know how she died with merely 35-40% burn injury,” Parameshwari Mahto, a school teacher said.
Dr RS Sharma of RIMS burn ward, however, said, “Above 30% burn is considered to be critical for a child. Her burn injury was 35% to 40% and she was brought late to the hospital, which caused problem in physiology stability due to excessive fluid loss.”
A Class 7 student, Bhumika was a resident of Nagri in Ranchi. Her mother went missing in her early age while her father Ujjwal Anand Tigga died last year. Her body was handed over to her grandfather.
Police said several anomalies were found during the inspection. “We are primarily investigating how were students allowed in the kitchen? Where were the cooks at that time? There are many other things that need to be investigated,” said Silli police station in-charge.
The block education officer (BEO) Sudama Mishra said, “Prima facie it seems a case of accident not negligence. Usually, students take lunch at 12.30pm. But, some students entered the kitchen 20 minutes before the schedule when there were no cooks. Students themselves started taking food during which Bhumika slipped and milk fell on her.”
Sources said the residential school is overcrowded. The school has 650 girl students against its capacity of keeping 250 to 300 students.
The BEO clarified that students, who were selected for two upcoming Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya at Nagri and Ratu, were shifting to Silli till the buildings at two places become operational.
“Nagri’s building is ready and students would be shifted there within a month,” he said.
District superintendent of education (DSE), Ranchi, Vijay Singh, said “We are conducting a probe into the incident. Details will be divulged once the investigation gets completed.”
A team of Jharkhand state commission for protection of child rights (JSCPCR) will also visit the school to probe into the matter. “It’s a serious matter. We will investigate it at our level,” JSCPCR chairperson Arti Kujur said.
