The National Human Rights Commission on Thursday issued notices to the Delhi government and the Ministry of Women and Child Development over the deaths of the three girls who reportedly died of starvation in Mandawali. The panel ordered Delhi chief secretary and the ministry’s secretary to submit a report on the matter within four weeks.

On Tuesday afternoon, the girls’ mother and an acquaintance took the three sisters – aged two, four and eight – to a hospital, where they were declared brought dead. The second autopsy has found they died of “gross malnutrition”.

The human rights panel said media reports indicated a violation of the sisters’ Right to Food, which is enshrined in the constitution. “The state, therefore, are lacking in discharging its duty by not fulfilling its obligation without providing food to all,” the commission said.

Delhi Police have deployed teams to trace the father of the girls, PTI reported. A second postmortem examination indicated that the girls’ “stomachs were empty” and “no trace of fat” was found in their bodies.

Following the incident, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia ordered a magisterial inquiry.

Condemnation

The Congress on Thursday blamed both the Centre and the Delhi government for the deaths of three minor girls reportedly from starvation. Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda said it was unfortunate that people died of starvation in the capital of one of the most powerful countries in the world, reported PTI.

The Bharatiya Janata Party demanded the dismissal of the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government over the matter, PTI reported. BJP’s Delhi unit president Manoj Tiwari and other saffron party leaders met the girl’s mother and offered financial assistance of Rs 50,000. “The common man is dying under the AAP rule in Delhi,” Tiwari said. “It is even more shameful as the area where the deaths occurred falls in the constituency of deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.”

The BJP raised the matter in the Lok Sabha.