In a case of medical neglegnce due to religious superstition, a 11-year-old girl has died in Kannur Kerala, after her 55-year-old father Abdul Sathar was convinced by a 30-year-old Imam Mohammad Uwaiz not to seek medical help on religious grounds when their daughter fell sick.
“We have a witness, a relative of the Imam, who has stated that the Imam was actively engaged in convincing the father against taking his daughter to the hospital. We also have the witness saying that the Imam has been involved in such instances earlier, and allegedly has links to deaths of 4 adults who were advised by him not to get medical help” Kannur District Police Chief Ilango R told NDTV.
According to the police who have now arrested the father and the Islamic religious cleric, the victim was suffering from fever but she was not taken to the hospital.
Instead, the father took his sick daughter to the Imam, who gave her holy water and asked her parents to read Quran, and advised them to not take her to the hospital.
The incidnet came to light after a complaint was lodged by the girls uncle, her father’s brothers who had approached the police and in his statement to the police he said that three family members had also passed away in 2014, 2016, 2018 without getting any treatment, the news agency added.
The two accused have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under IPC, and the father has also been booked under Juvenile Justice Act.
It must be noted that Kerala is yet to pass the Anti-Superstition Bill, unlike Maharashtra and Karnataka that have passed laws against superstition.
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