BENGALURU: A seven-year-old girl, who reportedly tried to imitate a fire-dance scene in a Kannada tele-serial, died after setting herself ablaze in North Karnataka.

The victim has been identified as Prarthana, a second standard student of a private school in Davanagere district’s Harihara town. She is the eldest daughter of Manjunath and Chaitra, residents of Ashraya Colony.

The incident occurred on November 11 and she succumbed to the burn injuries the next day. But the incident came to light on Wednesday after parents lodged a complaint with the Harihara police.

According to the girl’s mother Chaitra, Prarthana used to regularly watch two serials, including a horror-thriller. In one of the serials, the lead character is seen dancing on fire. Chaitra suspected that her daughter was influenced by the fire dance and tried it out when no one was at home.

Prarthana had reportedly thrown a few papers around her and set them on fire without realising that it will engulf her too . Chaitra said Prarthana was keen on watching serials. “We had advised her and warned her several times not to sit in front of the television. But there are times when she dodged us and went to our relatives house to watch teleserials. We have lost our daughter but we want other parents to be cautious. Please do not make children sit along with you and watch serials,” Chaitra appealed.

The incident has sent shockwaves across the state and has triggered a debate on allowing children to watch tele-serials that are not apt for them. Several Kannada tele-serial artistes have expressed their condolences to the bereaved family.

Ravi Kiran, the former president of Karnataka Television Association said: “It is sad that such an incident has happened. We usually put disclaimers in each episode of tele-serials but these have no effect. The makers of these serials do not have any bad intention, some elements are introduced to make the plot more engaging and gripping. In future, we should take steps to ensure that such negative impression is not created in the minds of the kids.”

V S Ugrappa, chairman of the state committee on safety of women and children, said there was a need to conduct more awareness programmes for parents and students on the different types of content on television and on who should be allowed to watch what.



In Video: Shocking! 7-year-old girl tries to ape TV serial stunt, dies