BJP Prayagraj MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s granddaughter succumbed to burn injuries she sustained while she was celebrating Diwali on Sunday. The six-year-old had gone to the terrace of her home with her friends to burst crackers with other children when her clothes reportedly caught fire. Tragically, due to the loud noise of firecrackers, nobody could hear her screams and she sustained 60 percent burn injuries.
“The child was playing with Diwali’s earthen lamps on the roof with other children in the afternoon when somehow her clothes caught fire. By the time the elders could rush to her and douse the flames, she had sustained 60 per cent burns,” Abhishek Shukla, the BJP MP’s media coordinator, told Hindustan Times.
The girl was immediately rushed to a private hospital for initial treatment and was reported to be airlifted to Delhi at Delhi Military Hospital later on Tuesday. Rita Bahuguna Joshi had even spoken to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and UP CM Yogi Adityanath, regarding the airlift. Unfortunately, the six-year-old succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday morning
The child was the only daughter of Joshi’s son Mayank. The latter is expected to arrive in Pragyaraj on Tuesday afternoon from Delhi, where he had rushed to make arrangements for the treatment. The child’s last rites will be performed at Daraganj Ghat, after the father arrives, he said.
A BJP MP from Pragagraj in Uttar Pradesh, 67-year-old Rita Bahuguna Joshi is the daughter of late Congress veteran Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna and she joined the BJP after quitting the Congress in 2016.