Delhi: Class 5 student dies after drinking liquid from schoolmate's bottle

NEW DELHI: An 11-year-old girl met a painful death after drinking what she thought was water in school on Tuesday. Sanjana, a Class 5 student of the private school in northeast Delhi’s Harsh Vihar, had asked for water from a junior after the lunch break. The latter, who was yet to drink from her bottle which she had brought from home, handed it over to Sanjana.

After taking a swig from the bottle, Sanjana immediately fell violently ill. The school authorities rushed her to GTB hospital in a critical condition. She was admitted to the ICU where she passed away the same night.

Police sent a sample of the liquid, which prima facie appeared to be acid considering the considerable corrosion caused on the school floor tiles on which Sanjana had thrown up, for forensic examination. Workers of an NGO later counselled Sanjana’s junior. A case of causing death due to negligence was registered.

School tragedy: Parents of junior detained for questioning

Sanjana’s father Rajaram told TOI that he had got a call from the school that she had fallen ill and had to be rushed to a hospital. According to him, the school authorities claimed that she had complained about severe stomach ache, had thrown up a few times and fell unconscious. “When we reached hospital, we were told that the child was extremely critical. She was admitted to the ICU where she later died,” Rajaram said.

A police complaint was later registered. Cops said that the child from whom Sanjana had taken the bottle was counselled by workers from an NGO during which ahe claimed that she had found the bottle at home and picked it up while coming to school. She didn’t drink from the bottle and offered it to Sanjana when she asked for water. The child’s parents have been detained for questioning.

Cops would also probe the role of the school because after a police team reached the school to recover the bottle, they were told that the liquid and the bottle were already disposed of by them.

A case of destruction of evidence might be registered against the principal. Cops lifted samples of the liquid from the floor on which Sanjana had thrown up. Sources say that the tiles had corroded due to the probable presence of acid in the liquid.

Rajaram works as a labourer in Loni while his wife, Rani, is a homemaker. “We have a seven-year-old son who would look up to Sanjana as inspiration to study and be sucessful in life. He is inconsolable since her death,” said Rajaram.