A 61-year-old woman, who suffered burns during the haldi ceremony of her daughter at the Parish Hall in St Paul’s Cathedral last week, succumbed to her injuries on Monday.

Sushmita Das, a resident of Nilambar Mukherjee Street in Ultadanga, had sustained burns on February 5.

According to police, her sari caught fire from an earthen diya that was lit during
the haldi ceremony that morning.

Initially, she was admitted to SSKM Hospital and later transferred to the burn unit of MR Bangur Superspeciality Hospital, the police said.

Sushmita died in the hospital on Monday afternoon, a police officer said.

“According to her statement that was recorded during her stay in the hospital, her sari had caught fire accidentally. She did not hold anyone responsible for the incident,” said an officer of Hastings police station, where an unnatural death case has been started.

The police did not find anything suspicious during their preliminary inquiry.

The family did not lodge any complaint till late on Tuesday, said an officer.

The body has been sent for postmortem.

Several such occurrences have been noted previously where older family members have sustained significant burn injuries or have
died from their injuries caused by a fire during puja or while preparing food in the
kitchen.

In most instances, negligence was found to be the cause of the accidents, the police have said.

In January 2021, Sima Dhar, 52, a resident of CR Colony in Jadavpur, died after suffering burns from a candle while performing puja at her home.

In 2020, Dola Mitra, 63, died of burns after her silk sari caught fire while she was performing Lakshmi Puja at home. She was alone in the room when the sari caught fire.

In the same year, 60-year-old Manjula Dutta, a resident of Bosepukur Prantik Pally in Kasba, died of burns after her clothes caught fire while lighting a lamp during her morning puja at home.

“It is a tragic incident. The woman’s sari caught fire without being noticed, and by the time it was seen,
she was already engulfed in flames. We urge everyone to be careful when using open flames and to follow basic safety protocols,” said a senior officer of Hastings police station.