Current Events
Sikh-Briton Schoolgirl Killed in Indian Hospital For Her Organs:
She Fell Ill on Holiday
HARRIET ARKELL
The parents of a schoolgirl who died after seeking treatment for dehydration during a family holiday to India have called for her organs to be returned to the UK so they can rule out foul play.
Eight-year-old Gurkiren Kaur Loyal, from Birmingham, United Kingdom, died in an Indian on April 2, 2013, after being admitted to a nearby clinic suffering from mild dehydration and being given a mystery injection.
Aware of the risk of illegal organ harvesting, her relatives say they guarded her body so her organs could not be taken in time to be transplanted.
But they claim that doctors in India later removed her organs to hide the cause of the schoolgirl's death.
Gurkiren's family believe their daughter was the victim of a failed attempt to illegally harvest her organs, and then a cover-up when medics realised they could not extract her organs in time.
Mother Amrit Kaur says they only discovered Gurkiren's organs were missing when her body was flown home to the UK and the Birmingham coroner told them it would be impossible to establish a cause of death because there were no organs to take samples from.
Now the schoolgirl's parents, who live in the Birmingham suburb of Hockley, are calling for their daughter's organs to be flown back to the UK so they can discover how she died.
And they have been joined in their campaign by Birmingham Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood and Birmingham councillor Narinder Kooner.
They say subsequent to their daughter's death on the family holiday, the Indian police and medical authorities made little attempt to investigate.
Shop assistant Amrit Kaur said: 'Gurkiren was fine, she was chatting to us and planned to buy some gifts for her cousins. While we were talking an assistant came up carrying a pre-filled syringe and reached for the tube in her hand.
'I asked what was the injection for, but he gave me a blank look and injected the liquid into her.
'Within a split-second Gurkiren's head flipped back, her eyes rolled in her head, and the colour completely drained from her. I knew they had killed her on the spot.
'I knew my innocent child had been murdered.'
Their local councillor in Birmingham, Mrs Kooner, said it was 'highly probable' that the child had been killed in a bid to harvest her organs.
She said: 'People with money pay for transplant organs to help their family members who are sick,' she said.
'We are trying to build a portfolio of other cases.
'This was an absolutely horrific ordeal for the family to go through and we are trying to work with the Foreign Office and the Indian High Commission to try to get her organs returned.'
Gurkiren, a bright and bubbly pupil at Nishkam School in Handsworth, was on her first foreign holiday visiting her frail grandmother, who later died, over the Easter break.
Her family said she was taken to a clinic after being sick, but was placed on a drip after blood tests revealed she was free of infection.
Under pressure to help the schoolgirl after the injection was given, medics transferred her to a nearby hospital but she could not be saved.
Mrs Amrit Kaur, who was on the trip with her postal worker husband Santokh Singh Loyal and 17-year-old son Simran Singh, claimed Gurkiren's medical records were disposed of and the family were not asked to pay for the blood tests, drip or the injection she received.
Police took a statement but the family said they obtained no evidence that Gurkiren's death was investigated.
Mrs Amrit Kaur said she was then told a post-mortem examination would be required in India before her daughter's body could be returned to the UK.
'They said they would use a hammer and chisel to open her,' she said. 'I demanded a more dignified, discreet examination.'
Eventually, having kept watch over Gurkiren's body to prevent evidence being destroyed, they were given assurances that a respectful autopsy would be carried out.
But, returning to the mortuary, Amrit said they found her daughter's bloodstained and ripped clothes by an incinerator and that the post-mortem examination had been carried out by a non-qualified junior.
'It was medieval,' she said. After chasing up death certificates, they had Gurkiren's body flown home and a post-mortem in the UK examination was ordered.
But Mrs Amrit Kaur said their hopes of finding out what killed their daughter were shattered in a call from Birmingham coroner Aidan Cotter.
'He said it was impossible to come to a conclusion for the cause of death,' she said. 'They had nothing to work from, she had no organs in her body for them to take samples.
'I was mortified that all the pleading in India had no effect.
'There was no sensitivity, no humanity.'
The Foreign Office said: 'We can confirm the death of a British national in [India] on April 2, 2013. We provided consular assistance to the family at this difficult time.'
A spokeswoman for the Birmingham coroner said an inquest had been opened and adjourned as staff awaited further information and, possibly, the return of organs from India.
She said: 'A post-mortem examination was carried out, but we were unable to ascertain a cause of death. We are doing everything we can to help the family.'
There is a thriving and lucrative underground market for human organs in India, where in 2007, Ravindranath Seppan of the Chennai Doctors' Association for Social Equality, admitted: 'India's rich are turning to India's poor to live longer.'
He said the commercial trade of human organs remained big business, despite having been banned in 1994.
Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood said: 'This is a deeply shocking and devastating tragedy.
'Gurkiren's death, and the failure of the Indian authorities and the British High Commission to provide adequate support to the family, has added to their considerable distress - as has the appalling removal of all of her organs.
'I have raised this matter urgently with ministers at the Foreign Office seeking their support in ensuring Gurkiren's organs are returned to her family.
'It is imperative that we have the chance to independently establish the cause of death with the authorities in the UK.'
[Courtesy: The Daily Mail]
May 14, 2013
Conversation about this article
1: A. Singh (Canada), May 14, 2013, 10:14 AM.
This is a horrific ordeal for the family. We need to publish the names and locations of the clinics and hospitals where this happened so that more people become aware of it and don't end up in the same situation. May Waheguru bless the family and give them strength.
2: Kuljit (Crawley, United Kingdom), May 14, 2013, 11:37 AM.
Bastards! Just because a person is 'middle class' and a doctor does not make him/her an angel. For example, it is well known that in the 50s, the head of the Mafia in Corleone (Sicily, ItalY) was a doctor who later injected a child witness to a murder in a similar way to this. Do not blindly assume tha a doctor is there to protect you in such countries. In this case in India, it is clear that any and all Indian doctors will do this, kill fetuses, do anything for the right amount of money ... with their government and police helping out in the crime. I was once ill in India in a similar way and had a seizure ... I must have been lucky that this did not happen to me. I love the Punjabi language, but day by day only see proof that I do not want to associate with the land from where this language comes, because it is being suffocated by an India which is a backward place in every sense of the term ... that is why people flee it in hordes. Would these doctors have done the same to a "white" British kid? I wonder. The family needs to get mainstream politicians involved for the Indians to even consider taking this seriously ... someone who is not afraid or cares about the so-called and imaginary Indian consumer 'clout'. We need to start boycotting India - nothing but economics will hurt. And bring about change. I'm disgusted by this, if this is indeed proved true as feared. To think I took my kids there for a holiday! I say we should all ruin their economy by re-thinking our travel plans to that miserable country. Bastards!
3: Amrinder (Australia), May 14, 2013, 2:14 PM.
Congress and BJP are parties of criminals. Jointly, they are allowing outrages like this to happen in India. From across the world, we need to jump in and ensure that this country starts to behave in a civilized way.
4: Ravinder Singh Khalsa (USA), May 14, 2013, 2:15 PM.
This is truly disturbing. Is India really a modern country? I agree with the prior commenter: the hospital, the doctor and the details should be identified globally. To add, they should also be given the death penalty. In addition, Sikhs need to reevaluate our relationship with India, the land where very little humanity exists now, given the stranglehold of India on Punjab and Sikhs. Unfortunately most Sikhs there have become complacent or turned into apologists for India -- this makes no sense. The family should lobby every single British MP to re-evaluate the UK's relations with India and to force change and accountability.
5: Virinder (United Kingdom), May 14, 2013, 3:32 PM.
Please -- publish the name of the clinic / hospital at the earliest. I have already heard about a number of other cases where people of Punjabi origin going to India and Punjab never made it back to the UK -- passing away in a local hospital.
6: EDITOR, sikhchic.com (Canada), May 14, 2013, 3:42 PM.
News reports have now identified Dr Pardeep Moudgil and his Clinic on Lalheri Road in Khanna, Punjab, where she was given the lethal injection. "Her body was later transferred to the Rajendra Hospital in Patiala, where it is believed her organs were removed during a post-mortem to cover up the cause of death."
7: Gurmeet Kaur (Atlanta, Georgia, USA), May 14, 2013, 4:58 PM.
This makes my legs tremble. We in the Diaspora are crazy about Punjab and gladly send our children there, year after year ... taking all kinds of risks. A couple of years ago Satya Amrit Singh, a teenager from Chile studying at MPA, Amritsar met the same fate. His Chilean parents are still trying to get an answer. His body too was flown back to Chile with no organs. Someone, please do something. That this happened to little Gurkiren right in front of her parent's eyes is beyond belief. I can't even begin to relate to their grief.
8: Satinder (Delhi, India), May 14, 2013, 10:25 PM.
May Waheguru give patience and strength to Gurkiren's family. It's really shocking how a human being can be treated in India today. While we await answers, the sangat should turn to 'Sukhmani Sahib' for solace.
9: G C Singh (USA), May 14, 2013, 10:53 PM.
This case was highlighted first by The Daily Mail and the British media, and only then did the Indian media pick up the story. Just imagine how many cases are happening every single day in India where doctors lie to the families and then harvest the organs of the victims and sell them in the lucrative black market.
10: H. Kaur (Canada), May 15, 2013, 2:18 AM.
I watched this documentary called "Body Parts" nearly 20 years ago and was shocked at what happens to people for body parts. People, including little kids, are kidnapped just for their organs in many countries. Of course, India is a major player in this crime scene.
11: Parmjit Billing (United Kingdom), May 15, 2013, 9:01 AM.
I am very sorry for the family. The little angel left this world for nothing. It's all corruption making people in India do these things ... all greedy bastards.
12: Kuljit (Crawley, United Kingdom), May 15, 2013, 11:45 AM.
If we did some deep soul searching, we will come to realize that Punjab may be the physical birthplace of our Faith, but has long left being the home to its principles. Those who love its culture and language should now realize that it is better preserved in the West, mingled with western ethics and ideals. In short Sikhi now is bigger than India and Pakistan. Punjabi is now an international language and we need look no further than Vancouver, Toronto, London and California for its global manifestations. There is no valid reason beyond a possible tourist visit to the Darbar Sahib to go to India. We long stopped being Indians when we left that land. Now, we live in human, humane and civilized countries ... which is still not the case back in India. All the "mahaan desh" stuff Indians are fed is bull****. We can be better Sikhs in our respective homelands ... even better Hindus and better Muslims ... better humans! Let's preserve our heritage languages and only those aspects of our traditions that deserve to be here in the west. India is not for humans and for all intents and purposes, evil ... nothing is going to bring this girl back. And yes, there will be no justice there, ever! We criticize the Brits, but within months of the Amritsar Massacre, Dyer was brought to book. In India, decades after 1984, nothing has been done about the pogroms. So we must accept the same for these cases. One day the poor in that country will get blood thirsty and murder the bloated rich ... that's its fate in waiting. We need more stories exposing the lies we have been telling ourselves about the hollow 'pride' of being from India ...
13: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), May 15, 2013, 6:40 PM.
I recently visited India this year and witnessed what passes off for health care. My chachee had been ill for quite some time and on one particular day had to be taken to a clinic by her son and I. The clinic was a complete joke. Patients were in the hall ways and the rooms were filled. No one was being given medical attention. The "nurses", if you can call them that, looked like they had been picked up from the local dhabas and given nursing duties. They were too busy laughing and socializing to care about the patients. I was surprised when one of the young men was issuing an injection to my chachee, the kid was clearly not certified to do so. I ultimately realized that only one doctor was responsible for the entire clinic, and she herself was a complete joke. People need to be very careful about which hospitals and clinics you choose to take your loved ones too when visiting India.
14: Gurmeet Kaur (Atlanta, Georgia, USA), May 16, 2013, 9:14 AM.
How could it be? / They shut your eyes / Your beautiful smile / Your laughter / Your dreams Your entire being.../ For some money? / A better house? / A faster car? / A trip abroad.../ In front of your Ma, / A helpless Dad / A big brother / Who didn't / have a chance / to protect / his treasured li'l sister.../ The pain / The agony / The questions / The apathy.../ Is all that's left behind. / May that car, / the house, / the trip... / Fill with color /of your dripping blood, / of death's stench. / May their lives / Days and nights / Fill with nightmares / of their children's murders ...
15: Harpreet (Tucson, Arizona, USA), May 16, 2013, 10:37 PM.
Why do people go to India for vacation? I can spend less money and have a better quality of a vacation somewhere else. It is time to boycott India.
16: Gurmeet Kaur (Atlanta, Georgia, USA), May 17, 2013, 4:42 PM.
Kuljit and Harpreet: We still go to Punjab and India because we still have loved there. We still go there because we are pained by the plight of the land of our Gurus and heritage and have a deep desire to do something about it. We don't go there for vacations any more.