Three men set a 15-year-old girl on fire on Saturday in Puri district of Odisha, a state reeling from the self-immolation death of a girl whose sexual harassment complaint in her college had gone unheeded.
"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," deputy chief minister Pravati Parida, who holds the women and child development portfolio, wrote in an X post.
"The girl has been immediately shifted to AIIMS Bhubaneswar, and 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," Panda said.
Three men set the girl on fire in Bayabar village while she was going to her friend's house, eyewitnesses said, adding they fled the spot after the incident, PTI reported.
Local residents doused the fire and rushed her to the hospital. Police have reached the village and started an investigation.
The incident is the latest in a series of shocking headlines from Odisha.
On Thursday, the Congress and seven other opposition parties enforced a 12-hour bandh across the state over the death of a college student who set herself on fire after being denied justice in her sexual harassment complaint.
Last month, 10 men allegedly gang-raped a 20-year-old college student on a beach in Odisha's Ganjam district.