The annual distribution of ‘fish prasadam’ organised by Telangana’s Bathini family is not new to controversy. This time, the Telangana High Court has asked the government to submit a report by June 7 chronicling the reasons as to why public money should be used for distribution of the fish prasadam that many have deemed as unscientific.

The petition against the event, seeking to stop it had been filed by the Balala Hakkula Sangham and its honorary president Achyuta Rao through its advocate C Damodar Reddy.

Noting that the fish “medicine” is not an actual medicine, the High Court had earlier ruled against the term “medicine” being used to refer to the distribution of the fish prasadam in 2012. It was following this order that it began to be referred to as fish prasadam.

“It should not be administered to children as it is not recognized by WHO,” says Balala Hakkula Sangham adding further that the government was spending public funds on an ‘unscientific treatment’ for asthma.

The fish prasadam has been administered annually by the Bathini Goud family since the 1800s. A paste made of turmeric and starch and some other unknown ingredients is stuffed into the mouth of a murrel fish. A person taking the prasadam is made to swallow the live fish. The family claims that the live, wriggling fish clears any congestion and phlegm which they state cures asthma, though several experts and activists have spoken about the dubious nature of the prasadam.

Narendra Nayak, President of the Federation of Indian Rationalists' Association, had earlier stated that the argument for how the prasadam works itself is a reflection of the organisers’ “poor understanding of human anatomy.”