Police close case of Jain teen who died after 68-day fasting

The Hyderabad police have closed the case of Aradhana Samdariya for lack of evidence, almost five months after the 13-year-old Jain girl died after 68 days of fasting that sparked national outrage.

The development was conveyed by the Secunderabad Market police in a letter to Andhra Pradesh Child Rights Committee late on Saturday.

According to the letter, a report was submitted to the X Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Secunderabad stating the case filed by the child’s group was false, non-cognizable, mistake of fact, undetected and lacked evidence. “Hence, the action was dropped on February 28,” the letter said.

The Secunderabad-based teen had died in the early hours of October 3 last year, less than three days after ending her fast under the ‘tapasya’ ritual practised by her community. She was declared “brought dead” at a private hospital where doctors said she died of cardiac arrest, caused by an imbalance in salts.

On a complaint from the Child Rights Committee, the Secunderabad Market police registered an FIR on October 9 against Aradhana’s parents Lakshmichand Samdaria and Manisha, under Section 304 (2) of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), besides Section 75 Juvenile Justice Act.

“We have done a thorough investigation. We asked for the report from the hospital authorities where Aradhana was declared brought dead. We also sought a second opinion from doctors at Government Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad on what could have led to her death. We could not find any evidence to prove her parents forced her to do tapasya,” said B Sumathi, DCP (Hyderabad North Zone), told HT.

The police told the committee that if it had any objections on closure of the case, it can approach the court within a week. “This is atrocious. Instead of framing the charges against the parents under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC, the police conspired with the Jain community and closed the case without proper investigation. We will continue the legal battle,” Child Rights Committee honorary president P Achyuta Rao said.

Lakshmichand and Manisha, who went into hiding for a few weeks immediately after Aradhana’s death, moved the Hyderabad high court on November 15 seeking anticipatory bail fearing arrest. But the court refused to grant them bail. On the same day, the court acting on a quash petition by Jain Seva Sangh, stayed the arrest of the girl’s parents while asking the police to complete the investigation .