Parents probed in teen daughter's religious fasting death
HYDERABAD, India -- Police said Monday they are investigating the parents of a teenage girl who died after fasting for 68 days in a religious ritual in southern India, an inspector said.
The 13-year-old girl’s father denied allegations that his daughter was forced to fast as part of a ritual practiced by Jains, an ancient Indian religion that preaches nonviolence.
“She wanted to become a Jain nun, and had gone on fast twice in the past,” Lakshmi Chand Samdariya told The Associated Press. “She never faced any problem” before.
But two days after ending her latest fast, when she was on a liquid diet, “her condition deteriorated,” Samdariya said. “We shifted her to a local hospital, where she was declared dead” on Oct. 3.
“She asked permission for upvaas (to fast),” Samdariya told the BBC in a separate interview. “We asked her to stop after 51 days but she would not give up. Her fast was voluntary. No one forced her.”
The BBC said bother her parents are wealthy jewelers in the southern city of Hyderabad.
Police in Hyderabad opened the case against the girl’s parents after a complaint was filed by a children’s rights association, Inspector M. Mattaiah said.
“This is an allegation, and we are investigating to establish the facts,” Mattaiah said.
“The entire nation should be ashamed that such a practice still exists,” Indian rights activist Achyut Rao told the BBC’s Hindi language service.
“Her father’s guru advised the family that if she fasted for 68 days, his business would be profitable,” claimed Rao.