Following the death of an 11-year-old girl here a few days ago, the Kannur City police on Wednesday arrested her father and an imam for denying her timely medical treatment for illness.
The police said the girl’s father, Abdul Sattar, a resident of Naluvayal, and imam Muhammad Uwais, a native of Kunjipalli, were arrested on a complaint that Fathima, who had high fever, lost her life as she was denied proper treatment allegedly due to superstitious beliefs held by elders in her family.
Kannur City Police Commissioner R. Ilango said they were arrested in a case registered for denial of medical treatment.
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The girl was allegedly given only ‘holy water’ by Uwais, imam of a local mosque, when she was taken to him for curing her fever by her family that believed in superstitions, the police said, adding Uwais allegedly practised witchcraft.
The complainant, a relative of the child, had sought an investigation also against the imam into the mysterious death of five more persons who were allegedly subjected to superstitious practice and prevented from seeking medical treatment when they approached him after contracting various diseases, they said.
The police said Fathima, studying in seventh standard, had been suffering from fever for three days and died on Sunday. She was taken to a private hospital when the fever did not subside. According to hospital sources, the girl was brought dead.
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( With inputs from PTI )