Three girls — aged eight, four and two, died in an east Delhi hospital on Tuesday, succumbed to starvation, police said on Wednesday, quoting the initial autopsy report. India’s public was in shock on Thursday as authorities confirmed three children starved to death in the national capital of the fastest growing economy in the world.
While the children’s mother was found to be mentally unstable, their father, a rickshaw puller, has not returned home and efforts are on to find him.
The children were identified as Mansi (8), Shikha (4) and Parul (2).
Beena, a 29-year-old woman who was living in the slums of Mandawali with her husband Mangal Singh (32) had shifted to a small room in Talab Chowk on Saturday after their shanty was damaged in the rain.
On Tuesday, Pradeep Singh, the son of their landlord was informed that all three children had fainted. “I live upstairs. When my mother Sudesh and I rushed to Beena’s house, we found the children lying unconscious. With the help of a neighbour, I took them to Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital where the doctor’s pronounced them dead on arrival,” Pradeep Singh said.
Deputy commissioner of police (east) Pankaj Kumar Singh said the first autopsy report suggests that the children succumbed to health complications related to malnourishment and starvation. “A second opinion from the medical board, which conducted another autopsy, is still awaited. No police case has been registered so far. The bodies of the children were handed over to the mother. No injury marks were found on their bodies.” the DCP also included.
The three children had died of starvation resulting from prolonged malnutrition, according to doctors from Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital where the initial post-mortem was conducted.
“The forensic test that was done at our hospital clearly suggests the children who were looking marasmic died of hunger. The pictures depicted gross malnutrition, there was no hint of fat anywhere on their bodies,” Dr Amita Saxena, medical superintendent at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in New Delhi, told to the Media, “When we opened their bodies up, the stomach was empty, the bladder and the rectum were empty as well. There were no signs to show that the kids had eaten anything in the past eight to nine days.” “The primary cause of death was definitely starvation; the children might have had infections or diarrhoea but the underlying cause is severe malnutrition. She added.
Pradeep said Beena and her family were brought to him by one of his tenants, a man who works as a helper at a roadside eatery nearby. “He told me that they lived in a slum and because of the heavy rain, they needed a better place to live. I allowed them to live for a few days until they found a better place. They were not in a condition to pay the rent,” Pradeep also added.
Speaking to the Media, Beena said her children died, but could not specify any reason. Police also said the woman could not be questioned properly and has failed to help them establish the sequence of events.
“When we tried to ask her if she had fed the children properly, she did not have any satisfactory reply. She only nodded or said no. We have not been able to get details from her. She is also not aware of the whereabouts of her husband,” a police officer probing the incident said.
The landlord said he felt that Beena was not mentally stable when he had allowed them to stay at his house. “She could not interact properly. She barely spoke to us. Her husband also came on Saturday when they shifted and since then, he has been away. We have not seen him return even after the children died,” he said.
Delhi’s deputy CM Manish Sisodia said that a magisterial probe has been launched in the case.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties — BJP and Congress — hit out at the Aam Aadmi Party on this issue.
In a series of tweets in Hindi, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken said, “Three kids die due to starvation in Delhi’s Mandawali. Post-mortem being shifted to GTB Hospital from LBS Hospital in a bid to get the desired reports. This family doesn’t have the ration card. The number of ration cards has gone down to 15 lakh from 33.5 lakh during earlier Congress rule in Delhi.”
BJP said that instead of playing politics over ration distribution, the AAP should focus on providing ration to the poor.
“Such a sad incident is happening in Delhi where the government claims to be championing the cause of providing ration to the poor,” Delhi BJP President Manoj Tiwari said.
MD.Selim , a veteran member of Indian parliament, belonging to the Communist Party of the India ( Marxist) told to the media that in short “this painful incident is so shocking and shameful”…..
Pratyusha Mukherjee
Calcutta, India
