The parents of an eight-year-old British Sikh schoolgirl have demanded that an Indian hospital must return her organs for a post-mortem in the UK.
Birmingham-born Gurkiren Kaur Loyal fell ill on a family holiday in Punjab last month and was being treated for dehydration at a clinic in Khanna, Punjab, when staff reportedly gave her a mystery injection.
"She had been vomiting so we took her to the Dr Pardeep Moudgil Clinic on Lalheri Road in Khanna for a check-up. I knew something wasn't right with that injection.
Her head fell back and all the colour drained from her. I knew my little child had been killed," Amrit Kaur Loyal, who fears her daughter may have been a victim of a failed attempt to harvest her organs, told PTI.
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.
"We were told the post-mortem was essential for the body to be released but we had informed them that we would want to conduct a second post-mortem in the UK. They assured us that only small incisions will be made and no organs will be removed. But the Birmingham coroner found no organs," said the bereaved mother from her home in Hockley area of Birmingham.
Coroner Aidan Cotter has opened and adjourned an inquest into the death of Gurkiren until further information is received India.
"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," a spokesperson for the coroner's office said.
"We are demanding that the organs be returned to Britain so that a proper investigation can be carried out by the coroner here," said the family's local Handsworth councillor Narinder Kaur Kooner, who is leading a campaign for the UK and Indian governments to take action.
"There has been no positive action from either side so far. We are waiting to hear what action they propose to take. We are calling for a broader policy change in the longer term but at the moment our immediate concern is to get the organs back for a post-mortem to be conducted here," she added.
