Bhubaneswar (PTI): In the fourth such incident within a month, a 13-year-old girl allegedly set herself on fire and is struggling for life at a hospital in Odisha’s Bargarh district, police said on Monday.

The incident took place at Phiringmal village within Gaisilat police station limits.

The minor was rescued by villagers from a football ground in a half-burnt condition and rushed to Bargarh district headquarters hospital, where her condition is stated to be critical, police said.

"The reason behind the self-immolation is not yet known. The victim, a class 8 student, used petrol to set herself on fire," police added.

The latest incident follows the deaths of three other women by burning since July 12.

On that day, a 20-year-old woman student in Balasore set herself ablaze on her college campus and died at AIIMS Bhubaneswar on July 14.

On July 19, a minor girl was allegedly set on fire by three miscreants in Balanga and died at AIIMS Delhi on August 2.

The third such incident took place in Kendrapara district on August 6, when a third-year undergraduate woman college student’s charred body was found from her house under Pattamundai (rural) police station area.

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Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised his Bihar counterpart over the niqab incident and said that Nitish Kumar might be slowly revealing his true nature.

"Nitish Kumar, who was once considered a secular leader, may be slowly showing his true colours," Abdullah told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.

Abdullah said Kumar removing the face veil of a Muslim woman doctor was wrong and cannot be justified by any means.

"We have seen this kind of incident here several years ago. Have you forgotten how Mehbooba Mufti removed the burqa of a legitimate voter inside a polling station? That act was wrong, and this act (of Kumar) is also wrong.

"If the (Bihar) chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her (Muslim woman), they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong," the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.

Kumar stirred a huge controversy after he removed the face veil of a Muslim woman at a function earlier this week.