NHRC seeks report from Bihar government on girl's death

New Delhi, May 1 (IANS) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Thursday issued a notice to the Bihar government demanding a detailed report on the death of a girl due to lack of basic medical facilities, a statement said.

The commission issued the notice after taking suo motu cognisance of a media report stating that a girl died of diarrhea due to lack of medical facilities in Dharhara village in Bihar.

"The commission has observed that the contents of the press report, if true, amount to serious violation of right to health of the girl. A notice has been issued to the Bihar government through its principal secretary (health and family welfare), calling for a detailed report in the matter within four weeks," NHRC said in a statement.

The commission added that Dharhara is the village which came into the limelight in 2010 when its villagers planted 10 fruit saplings to mark the birth of a girl.

To highlight the evil of female infanticide and dowry deaths, the villagers took this unusual initiative to plant the saplings of fruit trees. When the saplings mature, the fruit from these trees is sold and the proceeds used for the education and marriage of girls.

It has become a tradition ever since and even state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar plants a sapling on the birth of a girl in the village. The state government has also termed Dharhara a model village.

The NHRC stated that according to the media report, the village's health centre is in a shambles and is often locked. Despite the health minister promising a six-bed hospital there in 2010, no action has been initiated yet.

The commision, in its statement, quoted the victim's father as saying that he "believes that his daughter would have been alive if the health centre had been functioning".