Three Delhi sisters die of malnutrition after going hungry for eight days
New Delhi, July 26 (IBNS): Three sister — aged eight, four and two years — who died in an east Delhi hospital on Tuesday, succumbed to starvation, media reports quoted police as saying on Wednesday after their autopsy reports were received.
The children were identified as Mansi (8), Shikha (4) and Parul (2).
It has been reported that the children did not eat for eight days.
"There was no trace of fat on their bodies. Postmortem showed the stomach was absolutely empty. It's a case of gross malnutrition," NDTV quoted Amita Saxena, Medical Superintendent, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital, as saying.
While the children’s mother, Beena, was found to be mentally unstable, their father, a rickshaw puller, has not returned home and efforts are on to find him.
Beena (29), 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. With the help of a neighbour, he took them to Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital where the doctor’s pronounced them dead on arrival.
Deputy commissioner of police (east) Pankaj Kumar Singh has been quoted by The Hindustan Times as saying that 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 today (Wednesday),” the DCP said.
Leaders of the BJP and the Congress visited the family and both targeted Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party government.
"It is utterly shameful... I don't want to make it about politics... The centre sends subsidised food; it is the Delhi government's job to deliver it to citizens," BJP's Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari told NDTV.
Congress's Ajay Maken, after meeting the girls' mother, said: "Shocking to hear their story, the failure of the government and the system."
The AAP accused the BJP of pointing fingers after blocking its scheme for doorstep delivery of services including ration.
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