Noida: Nearly 10 months after a 10-year-old girl collapsed outside a school washroom and died, a forensic viscera report has added to the puzzle without explaining what led to her death.The report detected a benzodiazepine-class sedative in samples taken from her body and found human blood on a vaginal swab, with degraded blood traces on other genital swabs. At the same time, it found no sperm or semen and ruled out other chemical toxins. For the girl’s mother, the findings have only deepened the mystery, not resolved it. A key question the report does not answer is whether the blood on the vaginal swab matches the girl’s.The report has prompted fresh questions over what happened before the child’s death. Medical experts TOI spoke to said the findings, by themselves, neither establish sexual assault nor identify the cause of death. They said the report must be read alongside the autopsy, injury findings, DNA analysis, histopathology and the overall circumstances of the case before any conclusion can be drawn.“I still don’t know how my daughter died. The report mentions a sedative and human blood in the private parts of a 10-year-old child. I approached police after receiving it, but I am still waiting for answers. The administration is doing nothing,” the girl’s mother said.According to the viscera report, the benzodiazepine-class drug was detected in samples taken from the stomach, intestine, liver, kidney, spleen and blood. Benzodiazepines are prescription sedatives commonly used to treat anxiety, seizures and certain sleep disorders. In children, doctors said, the safe dosage is much lower than in adults, and excessive amounts can be dangerous.The report did not specify the quantity detected or whether it contributed to the child’s death. Her mother told TOI the child was not on any medication.“The presence of blood in genital samples can have multiple explanations. These findings, in isolation, don’t help,” said a senior doctor at a private hospital.Dr Sanjay Teotia, retired director of medical and health services, said benzodiazepines are sedatives that can be fatal in high doses, particularly in children. He added that the absence of genital lacerations in the autopsy reduces, but does not eliminate, the possibility of sexual assault.In Sept last year, the Class VI student of a frontline English-medium school collapsed outside a washroom on the campus after lunch. The area was not covered by CCTV. The school said she choked on food that got lodged in her food pipe and was rushed to hospital, where she was declared brought dead. Her family, however, alleged delays in taking her to hospital and questioned the school’s response.The autopsy had found no external injuries.
