13-Year-Old Girl Dies After Allegedly Setting Herself on Fire In Odisha’s Bargarh
The minor girl was rescued from a football ground in a half-burnt condition by the villagers and rushed to the hospital.
Published : August 11, 2025 at 10:37 AM IST
|Updated : August 11, 2025 at 3:07 PM IST
Bhubaneswar: A 13-year-old schoolgirl, who allegedly set herself on fire at a village in Odisha’s Bargarh district, succumbed to burn injuries at a hospital in Burla on Monday, police said.
Bolangir SP Abilash G, who is in charge of Bargarh district, said, "The girl succumbed to burn injuries at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla. We are investigating the reasons behind the girl taking the extreme step." The SP said police have registered an unnatural death (UD) case following complaints by her family members.
A three-member police team has been formed to probe the incident, he said, adding that police have recovered a video regarding the girl. Northern Range IG Himanshu Lal said the girl was staying in a hostel and had come to her maternal uncle’s house, where she took this extreme step.
"Investigation is going on, and as per law, action will be taken. Three to four teams have been formed, and interrogation is underway. The girl has died, and her postmortem is going on," he said.
Earlier in the day, villagers rescued the minor from a football ground in a half-burnt state and rushed her to the Bargarh district headquarters hospital.
The victim had sustained 70 per cent burns. Sambalpur Northern Range IG Himanshu Lal and Balangir SP Abhilash G, who is in charge of Bargarh district, have reached the hospital.
Rescuer Satyanarayan Pandey, who saved the minor girl from burning in the fire, said, "After seeing the girl burning, we rescued her. When we asked her why she did this, the minor girl said she did it for a girl."
This is the fourth such incident in Odisha where a young woman allegedly died by suicide by setting herself on fire since July 12.
On that day, a 20-year-old student of the Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore poured petrol on her body and set herself on fire outside the Principal's office after allegedly being denied justice in a sexual harassment complaint she had lodged against the HoD of Integrated BEd, Samira Sahoo. As her complaint was "not validated" by an internal enquiry committee of the institute, she resorted to take the extreme step, police had said.
The girl had sustained 95 per cent burn injuries and died on the night of July 14 while undergoing treatment at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.
About a week later, on July 19, a 15-year-old girl reportedly self-immolated in Puri’s Balanga. She was airlifted to AIIMS-New Delhi, where she died on the evening of August 2.
The third incident occurred in Kendrapara district on August 6, when the charred body of a third-year undergraduate woman student was found inside her house under the Pattamundai (rural) police station area.
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