In a gruesome incident, an 11-year-old girl died of burns after setting herself on fire on her school campus in Vellore district on Monday.
The police said K Harini, a 6th standard student, came to school with her bag, which also contained a small tin filled with kerosene. Just before the classes started, she ran to a rest room and locked it before dousing herself with kerosene and setting fire.
Though the school staff and teachers rushed to the spot and doused the fire, Harini sustained severe burns all over the body.
She was rushed to hospital where she died. The Vellore police had registered an FIR stating that the minor attempted suicide by self-immolation after she got scolded by her stepmother.
Preliminary probe revealed that the girl’s father S Kannabiran, a labourer, married another women to look after his daughter after his first wife died recently. The police suspect that the girl might have taken the extreme step as she was opposed to her father’s second marriage.
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