The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has preferred to close a case wherein a two years old child died in a hot cauldron during preparation of mid-day meal in Gajpati district.
Supreme Court lawyer and Rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy had filed a petition in this regard stating therein a cook’s child Hrushikesh who died after falling in a hot dal cauldron in Chhelagarh School in R Udaygiri Block.
Tripathy alleged the incident had occurred due to the lack of safety measures in the school on October 8, 2013 and sought an investigation and preventive measures for future occurrence and compensation to the parents of the deceased child.
Pursuant to the directions of the NHRC, the district Collector, Gajapati, had submitted a report that the complaint had been inquired and it was found that while the cook-cum-attendant Pushplata Baghsingh was preparing the lunch for the inmates of the girl’s hostel attached to the school, her son Hrushikesh Majhi came there after leaving the custody of his father and entered into the cooking site in search of his mother.
The mother was well aware about the entry of her son into the cooking area and she allowed him to launder in the vicinity of the kitchen. While she was busy in cooking at about 9.30 am, suddenly she heard the yelling of her son and discovered that the boy was lying in the hot dal cauldron. According to the report, the cauldron had a cover on it after the dal was cooked.
However, to the misfortune of the lady, the same had been slipped from the place with the intervention of the boy. Pushplata acted promptly to put her child out from the hot dal cauldron who had burn injuries from waist downwards. The boy was taken to the nearest Chandragiri Hospital. After preliminary treatment, he was taken to MKCG Medical College and Hospital where the boy was declared dead at about 4 pm by the doctors.
The report indicates that both the parents of the deceased boy were responsible for the incident as they have failed to discharge their duties as responsible parents. No FIR was registered and the authorities have taken precautions not to allow outsiders or relatives of the employees to the kitchen without prior permission of the Hostel Superintendent.
The report further stated that in absence of any provision to extend any kind of ex-gratia amount to Pushplata who is an outsider, the Collector paid `10,000 from the Red Cross Fund and `10, 000 from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund only on humanitarian ground. The NHRC closed the case without smelling any fault in the entire incident.