Puri: The mortal remains of a 15-year-old girl who was allegedly set on fire by miscreants on July 19 in Balanga, Puri district, arrived in Odisha on Sunday evening.
The girl had succumbed to her burn injuries on Saturday while undergoing treatment at AIIMS in the national capital. Her body reached Bhubaneswar airport from AIIMS Delhi. Odisha Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida paid her final tribute to the Balanga victim.
Meanwhile, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Niranjan Bishi on Sunday strongly criticised the Odisha government over the incident, calling it a grave law and order failure.
Bishi said, “It is a matter of law and order failure in the state of Odisha. The government has failed to maintain law and order. The students of schools and colleges are not safe, and the people of Odisha are demanding the restoration of law and order in the state.”
He also accused the state administration of deflecting responsibility by blaming the opposition. “So to hide the failure of the government, they are saying the opposition is doing politics,” he added.
Earlier on Sunday, Odisha Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo urged the Opposition not to politicise the case.
Expressing condolences to the family, he said the state government had taken all necessary steps to save the girl.
“I want to express my condolences to her family. The state government took all necessary steps. She was sent to AIIMS Delhi as well, but the doctors were unable to save her. The opposition parties should stay away from politicising such matters. The government has taken all necessary steps, but unfortunately, her life could not be saved,” Singh Deo told ANI.
He added that the victim’s family also stands with the government and acknowledges the efforts made.
“Normally, in such cases, the victim’s family doesn’t stand with the government, but the family is with the government, and they are saying the government has done its best and that they are satisfied with it, so the intervention of any third party in the case is unfortunate,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
According to police, the minor girl went out with her friends but was allegedly abducted midway and taken to the riverside, where she was set on fire.
