A PIL in Madhya Pradesh High Court seeks a legal ban on forcing children and mentally unfit persons to take the Jain vow of Santhara after a 3-year-old girl in Indore died. The petition questions the legality of such practices under the right to life.
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JABALPUR: A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court asking for a legal ban on the Jain religious ritual called Santhara, which involves fasting until death.
The petitioner says that this practice should not be allowed for children below 18 years of age and for people who are not mentally stable.
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This case was filed after a very serious and sad incident in Indore, where a three-year-old girl, suffering from a brain tumour, was allegedly made to take the Santhara vow by her parents. This happened in March, but the matter only came to public attention in May.
The Indore bench of the High Court has not yet said anything about whether the plea is right or wrong, but on Monday, it ordered that the girl’s parents must be added as respondents in the case. The lawyer of the petitioner shared this information.
In this case, the central government, the Madhya Pradesh government, and the National Human Rights Commission have already been named as respondents.
The PIL was filed by a 23-year-old social activist named Pranshu Jain. He requested that forcing children and mentally ill persons to perform Santhara must be banned legally because it goes against the fundamental right to life and liberty given by the Indian Constitution.
Santhara is an old Jain religious ritual where a person, by their own choice, decides to give up food, water, medicines, and all worldly things until death.
The petition also said that the three-year-old girl in Indore did not give any consent, and it was forced on her even though she was very sick due to her brain tumour.
The petition mentioned another shocking detail — that after the girl’s death, her parents applied to the Golden Book of World Records, and they gave a certificate.
This certificate called the girl “the youngest person to (take) the vow of Jain ritual Santhara.” This certificate has been attached to the PIL as proof.
Petitioner’s lawyer Shubham Sharma told media,
“On Monday, the High Court directed us to include the parents of the girl, who died after being given the Santhara vow, in the list of respondents of the PIL so that this certificate of the Golden Book of World Records can be confirmed.”
He added that the court might hear the matter again on June 23.
Mr Sharma also said that after reading about the girl’s death in the news, his client wrote complaints to both the central and state governments. But when no action was taken, he had no choice but to move to the High Court.
The parents of the deceased girl are working professionals in the Information Technology (IT) sector.
After public outrage and media reports, the parents said that they made their daughter take the vow on the night of March 21, based on the advice of a Jain monk. At that time, their daughter was very ill, unable to eat or drink properly due to the tumour.
They also said their daughter died just minutes after the Jain monk finished the religious Santhara rituals.
This is not the first time the legality of Santhara has come under scrutiny. In 2015, the Rajasthan High Court gave a judgment that called Santhara a punishable offence under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) and Section 309 (attempt to suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.
But later, the Supreme Court stopped the implementation of this order after several Jain religious organizations filed petitions against it.
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