JAGATSINGHPUR: An 11-year-old girl at Sishu Ashram, a rehabilitation centre for distressed children here, allegedly died by suicide on Friday morning and in the evening a 14-year-old boy at the facility drank phenyl after taking it from a toilet.
Sources said the girl, who was from a village under Naugaon police limits, had been staying at the ashram for the past eight months following the death of her parents.
On Friday morning, around 8 am, she was reportedly playing with other children on the ashram premises. A few hours later, she went into a room and allegedly hanged herself using her clothes.
When she could not be found, the ashram staff searched for her. They checked the rooms and spotted her body hanging in one of them. The incident triggered panic among the other children staying at the ashram.
In the evening, around 6 pm to 7 pm, the boy drank the phenyl following which officials rushed him to the district headquarters hospital. His condition is stated to be stable.
The boy was admitted to the ashram on September 4 following a dispute between his parents, said a source. According to the source, a child welfare committee staff member allegedly gave the boy a mobile phone. The boy apparently wanted to return to his parents but was not allowed to leave the ashram, and he threatened to run away, the source added.
Jagatsinghpur child protection officer Kanhu Charan Rout said an inquiry would be conducted into both incidents. “It is a gross mistake that two such incidents occurred,” Rout said.
Locals and child-rights activists have urged the district administration and child welfare authorities to examine whether the institution is following prescribed safeguards for the protection, counselling and rehabilitation of distressed children.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Tele Manas - 14416 (available 24x7) or Sneha Foundation - 04424640050 or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)