Odisha shocker: Minor girl set on fire by three men in Puri, Naveen Patnaik slams BJP govt

At 8:30 am, the 15-year-old girl was on her way to a friend's house when the three picked her up from a desolate area near Bhargavi River, set her on fire and left.

Locals rushed to her help when they saw flames and the girl's screams.

The class 12 student was rushed to the Community Health Center in Pipili. She suffered multiple burn injuries.

The girl was then shifted to the Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar.

Police are yet to arrest the accused.

The family has ruled out any personal enmity behind the incident.

The incident is a fresh shocker from the state, where questions on law and order under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule started to rise a year after its assumption of power.

Earlier this month, a student, who tried to self-immolate after allegedly enduring sexual harassment, died in Odisha's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar.

The 22-year-old student had attempted self-immolation after no action was taken despite her repeated complaints against a professor.

She had lodged a written complaint on July 1 with the college’s Internal Complaints Committee, accusing HOD Samir Kumar Sahu of soliciting “favours” and threatening to derail her future if she refused, according to an NDTV report.

According to college sources, she was told that action would follow within seven days, but no decision had been communicated.

Former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik referred to both the incidents and alleged the state is increasingly becoming unsafe for women.

Patnaik posted on X, "These are not stray cases of violence. These incidents occurring with shocking regularity point to a deep systemic failure of governance. It shows that criminals have become emboldened under the present government and are not worried about being punished. It shows how Odisha is becoming highly unsafe for women due to government inaction and political patronage. "

"Will the Odisha Govt wake up from this deep slumber and take speedy action so that the criminals are arrested? And more importantly will the government respond so that such incidents are not repeated? The girls and women of #Odisha await a response," the Biju Janata Dal chief, who was voted out of power last year, added.