Death of girl after fast: NGO member gets 'life threat'

A representative of a local child rights NGO, which had lodged a complaint over the death of a 13-year-old girl following her 68-day fast as part of a community ritual last year, has complained of getting a death threat call.
Achyuta Rao of the NGO 'Balala Hakkula Sangham' and member of the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR), today said, "On Saturday, I received a threat call from a person, who claimed to be from Ahmedabad. The caller said he has put out a bounty of Rs 5 lakh on my head for reopening of the case."
He said he has already lodged a complaint with Hyderabad Police Commissioner in this regard.

Last year, Anuradha Rao, the president of Balala Hakkula Sangham, had lodged a police complaint alleging that the girl, who belonged to a minority community, had died under "suspicious circumstances" on October 3. She alleged that the girl's parents and other family members made her undertake the fast for 68 days as part of the ritual.
Following the complaint, a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 (II) of IPC, and under section 75 of the JJ (Juvenile Justice) Act was registered against the parents and the kin of the girl.
The police had dropped the charges in the case last month and referred the case as "action dropped" in a court here.

Rao said after the police dropped the charges in the case, they had moved a local court seeking a thorough investigation into it by a central agency.
According to the police, on the night of October 3, the girl had suddenly fallen ill, after which her family members had shifted her to a hospital, where doctors declared her brought dead.