Bhubaneswar: The 15-year-old girl, who succumbed to burns at AIIMS-Delhi on August 2, claimed to have setting herself on fire in her dying declaration, Chief Minister Mohan Majhi told Odisha Assembly on Monday.
According to official records, on July 19, 2025, the wife of Himat Ali of Nuagopalpur in Puri district lodged a complaint at Balanga police station, alleging that unknown persons forcibly took her daughter to Bhargavi riverbed, poured some inflammable substance on her, and attempted to kill her by setting her on fire.
Acting on the complaint, police registered Case No. 162/2025 and began an investigation.
Local villagers found the teenager with severe burn injuries and rushed her to community health centre at Pipili. She was shifted to AIIMS-Bhubaneswar with 75 per cent burns the same day. A day later, she was airlifted to AIIMS-New Delhi and admitted to the Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery.
Before her death, her statement was recorded by the South District Court No. 37, Saket in New Delhi under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). In this statement, the victim declared that she had poured kerosene on herself and set herself ablaze.
“Based on the dying declaration and supporting evidence, Balanga Police concluded their investigation and, on September 17, 2025, submitted a final report to the court under Sections 127(2), 109, and 123(3)(5) BNS, categorising the case as a ‘Mistake of Fact’,” the CM added in the written reply.
