13-year-old Rajasthan girl dies after saving 3 kids from drowning

Dholpur: A 13-year-old girl in Dholpur district of Rajasthan saved three children from drowning in a gushing river and lost her life while trying to save her cousin on Monday afternoon, local villagers and police personnel said.

According to Rajesh Sikarvar, head of Khubpura village of Vintipura gram panchayat, Anushka, 13, a class-VII student, along with four others, had gone to the bank of Parvati river to perform a ritual related to Raksha Bandhan, a festival to celebrate the bond between brother and sister, on Monday afternoon.

As per the ritual, locals sow jau (barley) a month before Rakhi and the plants are immersed in a water body, a day after Raksha Bandhan, by the entire village.

Sikarvar said Anushka, with her cousin Chavi and three other children from the village, went to the river bank a little before other villagers could reach the spot.

“According to the three children whom she saved, they decided to take a bath in the river after immersing the plants. They were unable to anticipate the flow of the river, which had increased in the past few days because of heavy rainfall in the region,” he said.

In their excitement to take a bath, the four younger children ran into the river and got pulled by the heavy current. “Seeing them getting drowned, Anuskha, jumped into the river and tried to push the three children towards the shore,” he said.

She then went to save her cousin Chavi. “Anushka jumped into the river to pull out Chavi but was unable to bear the stronger water current there. Both of them drowned,” he said. Chhavi, who is her uncle’s daughter, had come to their home to celebrate Raksha Bandhan.

The children, who were saved, started shouting for help. The villagers, who were on their way to the river bank for the ritual, heard their cries and ran. The villagers came and took out the bodies of two children from the river, the village head said.

“A day before, Anushka tied rakhi to her two younger brothers. She was the eldest of three siblings. She saved three lives, a brave girl of the village. I have decided to start a competition in her name,” said Sikarvar.

Ashok Kumar, in-charge of Mania police station, under whose jurisdiction the village falls, corroborated the sequence of events told by Sikarvar. “Everything happened within a few minutes and therefore, it did not provide much chance to villagers to save the two,” he said.

Kumar said Anushka was the eldest among them. Chhavi (7) was her cousin, who died, and those saved were Khushboo (12), Pankaj (10) and Govinda (10). He said that Anuskha’s father is a small-time farmer and she has two younger brothers who were coming to the river bank for the ritual with their parents.

“The girl showed immense presence of mind as she pulled the three children out of the river. Only a brave person like her would have risked her life to save the fourth one,” Kumar said.

On Tuesday, the girl was cremated as a pall of gloom descended on Khubpura village. A large number of people from neighbouring villages also paid their respect to the brave girl.