HC Directs Odisha Govt To Pay Rs 5 Lakh For Death Of 7-Yr-Old Sevashram Student

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has awarded Rs 5 lakh compensation to a man, whose seven-year-old daughter died in state-run Bilabadi Sevashram in Kandhamal, 11 years ago.

“The death of 7-year-old Jasmin was undoubtedly on account of the negligence of the authorities in charge of the Sevashram where she was an inmate and therefore the liability to compensate for her death has to be squarely fixed on the state under whose administrative control the Sevashram was functioning,” the division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice RK Pattanaik said in it’s June 28 order.

The beach further said that the sum should be paid to the petitioner by the state within 8 weeks, failing which it will liable to further pay simple interest on it at 6 per cent per annum for the period of the delay.

According to case records, Jasmin was a boarder at the Girls’ Hostel of the Sevashram, functioning under the ST&SC Development Department. On the night of April 21, 2011, she complained of a headache and mild fever. The head sevak sent her back to her village around 8 am the following morning accompanied by four other young girl students. Jasmin became unconscious while on her way back home and the four girls with a lot of difficulties carried her for a short distance before two villagers rushed for help. She then expressed her inability to carry on, collapsed and died.

Bichchanda Mallick filed a petition in the HC on January 25, 2012, alleging that his daughter died owing to the negligence of the head sevak.