Girl burnt alive

By Our Staff Correspondent

HOSADURGA (Chitradurga dt.), APRIL 2. A 13-year-old girl, Deepa, was burnt alive and four others received burns when some unknown persons allegedly set fire to the hut in which they were sleeping after locking it from outside in the early hours of Sunday here.

The injured, Shruti (11), Dinesh (12) and their, mother, Ms. Puttamma (35), and Ms. Kariamma (30), are fighting for their lives at the government hospital in Davanagere.

According to sources, the hut belonged Ms. Kariamma. She had invited her neighbour, Ms. Puttamma, to sleep in her hut last night since she was alone. Ms. Puttamma with her three children, including Deepa, had gone to Ms. Kariamma's hut after locking her hut.

Some miscreants allegedly set Ms. Kariamma's hut ablaze at about 2 a.m. after dousing it with petrol. When the fire engulfed the hut the neighbours thought that since the hut was locked nobody was inside. But after sometime they heard the screaming of women from the hut. Since the hut was situated on a small hill, the neighbours could not carry water easily to extinguish the fire. By that time help reached, Deepa, who was a fifth standard student, was dead.

Deepa's mother, a brother and a sister were severely burnt. But the hut owner, Ms. Kariamma, escaped with minor injuries.

When this reporter visited the spot in the afternoon, Deepa's charred body was still lying there to be taken by her relatives.

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Section  : Regional
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