Puri, July 19 -- A tense and eerie silence hangs over Bayabar village under the jurisdiction of Balanga police station in Odisha's Puri district, after a minor girl was abducted in broad daylight, taken to a riverbank, and set on fire by unidentified miscreants.
According to the victim's father, Hamid Ali, the girl had gone to her friend's house, located about 500 yards from their residence in the village.
Reports indicate that while returning home around 9 AM, three youths on two motorcycles intercepted her, gagged her with a cloth, and abducted her.
They took her nearly one kilometre away to the bank of the Bhargavi river, where they poured kerosene on her, set her ablaze, and fled the scene.
Despite severe burn injuries, the girl man...