Puri: In a deeply disturbing incident, a 15-year-old girl was brutally set ablaze by unidentified miscreants in Bayabar village under Balanga police limits in Odisha’s Puri district on Saturday. The attack has sent shockwaves across the state, with the victim now fighting for her life at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

According to eyewitness accounts, the girl was walking to a friend’s house when three men approached her.

Preliminary investigation revealed that three unidentified motorcycle-borne youths intercepted her, forcibly took her to the banks of Bhargavi River, sprinkled an inflammable substance on her body, and set her on fire, a police officer said.

The spot of the incident is around 1.5 km from her house at Nuagopalpur Bustee and around 5-7 km from Balanga police station.

The miscreants fled the spot after setting the girl on fire. Local people doused the fire and later took her to Pipili government hospital, from where she was shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar with 70 percent burn injuries.

Pipili Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Debasish Mishra, said that the girl suffered burn injuries on her back, abdomen and other parts.

Odisha Deputy Chief Minister Pravati Parida, who also handles the Women and Child Development portfolio, confirmed the incident in a post on X.

“I am saddened and shocked to hear the news that some miscreants at Balanga in Puri district poured petrol on a fifteen-year-old girl on the road and set her on fire,” she wrote.

She added that the state government would bear all expenses for the girl’s treatment and has directed police to ensure swift and strict action against the perpetrators.

“All arrangements are being made for her treatment. All the expenses of the treatment will be borne by the government. The police administration has been directed to arrest the culprits immediately and take strict action,” Parida said.

Scientific teams are engaged in the investigation. No one has been detained or arrested so far, the SP said.

PTI inputs