4-yr-old girl dies after falling into septic tank

A four-year-old girl died after she accidentally fell into a 20-feet deep septic tank inside the premises of a private school in North-west Delhi’s Swaroop Nagar area on Tuesday afternoon. 

According to the police, the deceased has been identified as Nandini. In a similar incident, highlighting laxity on the part of schools, last year, in January, a six-year-old boy of Ryan International school in Vasant Kunj area of South Delhi died after his body was found floating in a water storage tank inside the school premises, hours after he went missing from his classroom. Although the Delhi Police had registered a case against the school principal and four employees, they all were later released on bail.

According to the police, the incident took place at around 2.30 pm inside a vacant plot of land jointly owned by the Sant Sujan Singh International School and the Sardar Colony Gurudwara. Nandini was returning home from her school, Camp Convent Public School, along with her mother and two other siblings when she unclasped her fingers from her mother’s hand and started running.

Narrating the exact sequence of events, Ranjit Singh, Nandini’s father, who drives an auto-rickshaw, said: “Nandini studied in the nursery section of Camp Convent Public school. It was around 4 pm, I was in Peeragarhi when I got to know that my daughter fell into a septic tank within the premises of the school. Sant Sujan School falls between our house and Nandini’s school. 

“The tank was not covered at that time. She was running when she accidentally fell into the 20-feet deep and 7-feet wide tank. My wife too, went after her when she fell into the tank. However, locals gathered around the tank and somehow managed to rescue my wife.

“It was only hours later that the local divers, who were called in by the police were able to fish out my daughter’s body, and rushed her to a private hospital, where she was declared brought dead,” added Singh.

Reeling under shock, Sanju Devi, Nandini’s mother shared how she felt helpless when her daughter fell inside the septic tank. “I was carrying Nandini’s younger brother, 10-months-old in my arms and was holding Nandini’s hand. Within minutes, this happened. As a mother, my first instinct was to jump. But the water was so full of muck that I could not do anything,”Post the incident on Tuesday, Sujan School was locked. Hordes of angry parents and locals gathered outside the school to stage protest against the school authorities.

Police, meanwhile, said that they have registered a case under Section 336 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 304A( causing death due to negligence) of the IPC at the Swaroop Nagar police station.