Minor girl takes acid bottle to school; friend drinks and dies

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A girl of Class 5 died in the evening on Tuesday in Northeast Delhi after she allegedly consumed toilet cleaning acid. It so happened that another student of Class 4 had brought acid in a green soft drink plastic bottle as she mistook it for her regular water bottle.

As per the police, the incident took place in the lunch break during school hours when the girls were eating together.

Deputy commissioner of police, Atul Kumar Thakur said that a case of death by negligence was registered at the Harsh Vihar police station against unknown persons under Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code.

Thakur told Hindustan Times, "We are probing the case to fix the responsibility on the person whose negligence claimed the life of 11-year-old Sanjana (single name). The liquid that the girl consumed has been sent to the forensic laboratory along with the plastic bottle to ascertain the nature of acid."

Sanjana succumbed to internal injuries at a government hospital. She was a resident of Harsh Vihar near Loni in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. She was a student at Deep Bharti Public School.

A police officer said that the girls were made to sit together as the class teacher of Class four was on leave.

As per the officer, Sanjana had her lunch with the Class 4 girl. Sanjana felt thirsty and asked her if she could drink water from her bottle. The girl agreed and gave her the bottle.

The officer said, "When Sanjana consumed the liquid, she felt a burning sensation in her throat and started screaming. By the time the school staffers rushed to the classroom, Sanjana began throwing up and fell unconscious. The school administration informed Sanjana's parents and rushed her to Guru Teg Bahadur hospital. She succumbed to internal injuries in the evening."

After speaking to the Class 4 student and her mother, they learnt that she took the wrong bottle. "The girl's mother told us that she had kept toilet cleaning acid in a similar bottle and had kept it in the room. The girl mistook it for her water bottle," he said.

The police have also asked the school administration for an explanation as to why the police were not informed about the incident immediately.

Director of education, Sanjay Goel said that the department had not received any information about the incident till Wednesday evening.

The family members and relatives of the deceased student gathered outside the school and demanded justice for their daughter and asked for strict action to be taken against the family members of the Class 4 student.

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