(Hong Kong, March 16, 2005) The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) condemned the Indian authorities on Wednesday for watching a five-year-old girl die of hunger without offering any help to her and her family, who have been forced to live at rubbish dumpsite in West Bengal.

The Hong Kong-based regional human rights group also lamented that the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in India did not take any initiative to prevent such tragedy despite repeated appeals for concern made by the AHRC.

"Had all these bureaucrats acted immediately to ease her family's suffering of extreme poverty and starvation, this girl would not have died," said Bijo Francis, programme officer of the AHRC's South Asia desk.

"Even one death is too much. There is no question that their indifferent attitude has led to Lachhmi's death," Francis said.

Lachhmi died last week. She was the third child in the family starved to death.

Her family was among the 7,000 Dalits, or the so-called "untouchables", who were forcibly evicted from their homes at the Bellilious Park in West Bengal's Howrah municipality by the authorities in February 2003.

No compensation or resettlement has been given to the evictees, who are mostly manual scavengers.

Lachhmi's family and many residents displaced have been staying at a rubbish dump in Belgachhia since then, while some others have to dwell on the streets.

Her brother Shiva died of starvation at the age of three in December 2003... read more.