Mumbai: 12-year-old collapses on stage during performance, dies

“A girl who was supposed to perform in the third slot suddenly pulled out at the last minute and Anisha was to dance in her place,” said Yadav.

A video of the dance shot by one of the organsiers, shows her taking the stage at 6 pm to a remix of the popular dance number ‘Disco Deewane’ but 14 seconds into her act, Anisha slows down before collapsing spread-eagled onto the stage.

Yadav said that his party-workers rushed Anisha to a private hospital located a few hundred meters away on a motorbike. However, she was declared dead upon arrival, the police said. Her body was sent to Bhagwati Hospital in Borivali for a post-mortem before being handed over to her family, which conducted the final rites on Wednesday morning.

According to a forensic expert in Bhagwati Hospital, the girl suffered no physical injury and had no known medical history of illness. “We have reserved all organ samples for histopathology and chemical analysis,” the forensic expert said, adding that final opinion on the cause of death had been reserved until these reports are received.

While locals believe a cardiac arrest led to her death, forensic experts said that post death, there were no clinical indications of an attack. “We could have confirmed a heart attack if she was still alive. After death, that finding can only be confirmed following a histopathology,” the forensic doctor said.

Yadav, who was by Anisha’s parents’ side at the hospital said, “Doctors told us she died due to over-exertion. Her haemoglobin level was also very low.”

Hours before the performance, Yadav said, Anisha had told her parents that she would perform better on an empty stomach. “But her parents told me that she did eat dal rice 2-3 hours before going to competition. She was accompanied there by an older cousin and a school teacher,” he said.

Yadav, who has been organising Khel Mahostav in different parts of Kandivali for the past decade, said that he felt perosnally responsible for Anisha’s death. “I have always made sure to provide lots of water and food. We give all the participants biscuits and chikki and keep an amubalnce on standby at the event. We also take an undertaking from families that their child is medically fit to perform. Yet what happened was very unfortunate,” he said.

Anisha was a class seven student at Hilda Castelino Hindi High School. Her father Bharat Sharma is a barber.

Nitin Pondkule, senior inspector, Kandivali police station, said that a case of accidental death was registered on Tuesday. “The parents have told us that their daughter was fine. We are awaiting reports from the forensic lab,” he said.

Dinesh Sharma, Anisha’s uncle, said that the family is clueless about what led to her death. “She was completely healthy. She had participated in many state level dance competitions boefrr this and won each time, so it wasn’t even a case of stage fright. Only god knows what happened to her,” he said.