A tragic incident occurred in Mohanpura Indrapur village in Madhya Pradesh's Barwani district early Friday, where a 24-year-old woman was killed and her two children sustained burns after a container of acid allegedly spilled over them while they were sleeping.
The incident took place in an agricultural field under Rajpur police station limits. The woman, identified as Pinki, her husband Vijay Chauhan, and their two children, four-year-old daughter Shivani and six-year-old son Atharv, had been residing in a house built on their agricultural land. The family relied on drip irrigation for farming, which required the use of acid for periodic cleaning of the irrigation system.
Vijay had purchased acid from Rajpur for cleaning the irrigation lines. The container was allegedly kept on a rack near where the family was sleeping. According to police, the acid might have spilled from the container due to the nocturnal activities of a rat or a cat. At the time of the incident, Vijay was out.
Upon hearing the screams of his wife and children, Vijay returned to find the acid spilled over them. He immediately rushed them to Rajpur Community Health Centre.
Rajpur block medical officer Dr. Devendra Romde stated that the woman, her daughter, and son were brought to the health centre by her husband in a 108 ambulance around 6 am. “Pinki had sustained severe burns on her face, chest, abdomen, hands, and feet. Her eyes were extensively damaged. The children also suffered acid burns on their faces,” Dr. Romde told TOI. All three were referred to the district hospital in Barwani after primary treatment. However, Pinki succumbed to her injuries before she could be shifted to Barwani hospital. Both children are currently undergoing treatment in the burn unit of the district hospital, and their condition is stable, the BMO added.
Barwani Superintendent of Police Padma Vilochan Shukla said, “The exact sequence of events is yet to be established. The woman's statement could not be recorded before her death, and the kids are not in a condition to speak. Her body was sent for postmortem examination on Friday evening.”
