Sonbhadra (UP), Jun 30 (PTI): A toddler died after she accidentally fell into a boiling pot of 'chana', just two years after her sister, about the same age, was killed almost the same way - tragedy revisiting the family in an eerily similar manner.

Shailendra, a native of Jhansi, and his wife, who run a roadside stall selling street food in the Duddhi bazaar area of Sonbhadra district, lost their one-and-a-half-year-old girl after she accidentally fell into a boiling pot of chickpeas at their home, police said on Monday.

This incident is similar to another misfortune which struck the family two years ago when the couple lost their elder daughter, who, too, fell into a hot cooking vessel.

The tragedy took place at around 9 am on Friday when Shailendra was preparing chickpeas in a pot for his food stall. While he and his wife were momentarily engaged in other tasks, their toddler daughter, Priya, who was playing near the utensil, accidentally fell into the hot pot, police said.

The child was rushed to the Duddhi Community Health Centre, where doctors referred her to the district hospital for further treatment.

However, despite medical efforts, the child succumbed to her injuries on the same day, officials said.

Shailendra buried her daughter the next day near the banks of the Kanhar River in Duddhi.

He recalled that two years ago, his elder daughter, Saumya, aged around two at the time, also died in similar circumstances after she accidentally fell into a hot pot of utensils.

That, too, was an accident, he said.

Duddhi Station House Officer (SHO) Manoj Singh said the incident was not initially reported to the police.

"However, upon receiving information and conducting an inquiry, it was found to be an accident," he said.

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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued contempt notices to a litigant and his lawyers for making "scurrilous allegations" against a sitting judge of the Telangana High Court in their plea.

The top court, while issuing the show cause notices to the petitioner and his lawyers, refused to allow withdrawal of the petition, and said, “We cannot permit judges to be out in a box and allow any litigant to make such allegations against a judge. Here we were trying to protect lawyers.”

A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing a transfer plea filed by petitioner N Peddi Raju filed through advocate-on-record Ritesh Patil.

The petition involved a case in which Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy had received relief from a high court in a matter under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

“Here we were trying to protect lawyers, but this kind of conduct cannot be condoned,” the bench, which earlier heard another suo motu case pertaining to summoning of lawyers by the ED for rendering legal advice, said.

“Scurrilous allegations have been made against the sitting judge of Telangana High Court. It has been held (in a judgement) that it is not only a litigant but also a lawyer who signs (the petition) is guilty of contempt of court.

“We thus issue notice to Peddi Raju as well as the lawyers … and the AoR. They are directed to state why contempt should not be initiated against them. Notice returnable on August 11,” the CJI said.

A counsel sought the liberty to withdraw the remarks after the court expressed strong displeasure. However, the bench dismissed the request.

“File apology …we will see whether to consider or not. We will see the apology is genuine or not. When we expressed displeasure at the language, liberty was sought to withdraw. We dismissed the request,” the bench said.

The case stems from the Telangana High Court's decision to quash a criminal case registered against the chief minister under the SC/ST Act.

The petitioner later approached the top court with a transfer plea, alleging bias and impropriety on the part of the high court judge.

Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared on behalf of the chief minister.