2 Jharkhand teens drown in separate incidents during Jitiya festival

Two children died in separate incidents linked to Jitiya observances in Jharkhand, police said on Sunday. A teenage boy drowned in a pond in Palamu district, while the body of a 13-year-old girl was recovered from the Swarnarekha river in Jamshedpur.

The girl had gone to the river with her family for a ritual bath when she and her elder sister were swept away by a strong current, police said.

The elder sister was rescued and is undergoing treatment, while the younger girl's body was found on Sunday after protests by local residents over the delay in launching a search operation.

In Palamu district, the boy who lost his life was identified as Rakesh Kumar.

Police said he had accompanied his mother to a pond in Khatin village in the Chatarpur police station area to immerse items used in Jitiya Puja rituals when the incident took place.

Villagers fished him out of the pond and rushed him to a government hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

Chatarpur officer-in-charge Saurabh Choubey said the body had been sent to Medinirai Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem examination.GIRL, 13, SWEPT AWAY BY STRONG CURRENT

In Jamshedpur, police said the body of 13-year-old Punam Kumari was recovered from the Swarnarekha river in the morning.

Punam and her elder sister, Jyoti Kumari, had gone to the river with their parents on Saturday evening to take a ritual bath on the occasion of Jitiya when the two stepped into deep water and were swept away by the strong current.

Their mother raised an alarm, after which local residents began a rescue operation. They managed to pull out Jyoti, but Punam remained missing. Jyoti was taken to MGM Hospital in a critical condition, where she is undergoing treatment.

Locals alleged that the administration had failed to make adequate security arrangements despite being aware that a large number of devotees would visit the river for the festival. They demanded that an NDRF team be deployed to search for the missing girl.

The agitated residents blocked Mango Bridge late on Saturday night, disrupting traffic. The blockade was lifted a few hours later after police assured the protesters that their demand would be looked into.

On Sunday morning, residents again staged a brief protest on the bridge, angered by the absence of a rescue team.

Dhalbhum Sub-Divisional Officer Arnab Mishra later deployed a team of divers, who recovered Punam's body about an hour after starting the search.- Ends(With PTI inputs)