Battling with life for nearly 12 days after she was allegedly gang-raped and set afire by two youths, the 14-year-old Dalit girl of Mahakalapada in Kendrapada district succumbed to her injuries in the ICU of the Capital Hospital on Thursday.
It was the second unfortunate incident after the Pipili gang-rape victim Bebina Behera had died at the SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack on June 21 last year.
Around 7 pm, the victim accompanied by a four-member medical team from the SCB Medical College and Hospital where she was undergoing treatment for the last 12 days with 70 per cent burn injuries and septicemia (blood infection) was to leave for New Delhi from the Bhubaneswar Airport in an Air India plane for further treatment.
But after reaching the airport, the doctors suggested to admit the victim at the Capital Hospital as her condition began to deteriorate fast, sources said. After a few minutes of her admission in the hospital, she succumbed to her injuries at the ICU, sources said.
Notably, a Medical Board of SCB Hospital on Wednesday decided to shift the 14-year-old Dalit girl to New Delhi. She had developed respiratory disorders after a fire mishap took place in the burn unit of the hospital on Sunday afternoon.
Due to short circuit, an AC was gutted in adjacent cabin. The victim’s cabin was engulfed with smoke and she allegedly inhaled the smoke for over 15 minutes before she was shifted to a safer place, sources said.