Madhya Pradesh Child Rights Agency recognizes 3-year-old death after Santhara ceremony

A child rights agency in Madhya Pradesh has realized the death of a 3-year-old girl with a brain tumor, who was initiated to “Santhara”, a rapid death ceremony for Jainism and will seek a response from the Indian regional government.

The girl breathed her last breath on March 21 after her parents brought her into Jana religious practice at the advice of a spiritual leader.

Talk to it pti On Monday, Omkar Singh, a member of Madhya Pradesh Rajya Baal Adhikar Sanrakshan Ayog, said: “We have taken an awareness of the incident based on media reports. We have decided to send a notice to the Indore District Magistrate on the matter.” Aayog particularly wanted to know how an innocent three-year-old girl agreed to “Santara”.

“We will issue notices to the local magistrate judges and take appropriate action based on the response to the notice,” said Mr. Singh. Santhara, also known as Sallekhana, is a voluntary fasting of Jana ritual. In this way, a person gradually reduces his or her food and water intake until death as a means to achieve spiritual purification and separation from the world.

The children's parents are professionals, he said they decided to have the only child observe the vow when they fell ill on the evening of March 21, with difficulty in eating.

According to parents, their daughter took her last breath within minutes of the religious ceremony of Innata and monks completing the “Santara” ritual.

They also informed that the Golden World Record issued a world record certificate in the name of her daughter, calling her “the youngest person in the world in Santala's world's ritual.”

In religious terms in the Jana community, Santhara is also known as “Sallekhana” and “Samadhi Maran”. Under this ancient custom, a person abandons food, water and worldly things and embraces death when he or she feels that the end has come.

In 2015, the Rajasthan High Court declared the act a legal and religious debate in the legal and religious circles declared guilty of punitive crimes under Article 306 (with temporary suicide) and Article 309 (Indian Penal Code for Attempt to Death).

However, the Supreme Court held an order from the Rajasthan High Court when it heard petitions from various religious groups in the Jana community.