A seven-year-old girl has died after allegedly attempting to imitate a “fire dance” scene from a Kannada television serial when she was home alone in Harihar town here.
The girl has been identified as Prarthana, daughter of Chaitra and Manjunath, both residents of Harihar town. Though the incident occurred on November 11, it came to light only on Wednesday. A case of unnatural death has been registered with the Harihar town police.
According to Ms. Chaitra, the girl had tried to imitate a dance sequence in the serial in which a character danced on fire. When the parents were out at work, the girl made a heap of newspapers in the room, set it on fire and attempted to dance on it, the mother said.
The girl was admitted to a private hospital on the same day with 70% burns. She died the following day around 1.30 a.m. According to Ms. Chaitra, the private hospital authorities delayed handing over the body over bill payment. The police have taken the statements of the parents and are investigating.
Davangere Superintendent of Police Bhimashankar Guled said the reason for the girl’s actions is yet to be ascertained.
Meanwhile, Ms. Chaitra has written to Block Education Officer of Harihar town to provide some compensation from the children’s welfare fund to meet their medical expenditure.