Superstitious parents brand three-year-old with hot knife in Indore

INDORE: In a shocking incident in Khandwa district, superstitious parents subjected their three-year-old son to torture by pressing heated knife to his stomach 52 times after he complained of stomach ache and started vomiting, police said on Thursday.
The child, in Garbedi village of Khandwa, was taken to a local tantric, who advised the parents to heat a knife and put it on the child’s stomach 52 times to ‘relieve’ him of his pain.
The parents kept inflicting burns with the hot knife despite the cries of the child, police said.
"The child was brought to us two days ago. He was branded with hot knife and had burns all over his body, especially on his stomach. We admitted him to nutrition rehabilitation centre (NRC) as he was malnourished, he was then referred to Khandwa district hospital for further treatment," said block medical officer Shailendra Kataria.
"We came to know about the incident from out sources. No complaint was lodged in the case. We also went to the hospital to see whether they had brought the child for treatment but found no one there," said Anwar Khan, sub-inspector of Khalwa police station.
He also added that the superstition of inflicting burns on a person suffering from some disease is a common phenomenon in the tribal villages.
"The Korku tribe believe in superstitions and indulge in voodoo practices quite frequently," said Khan.
CMHO Dr JS Awase, however, seemed unaware about the situation. He said he came to know about the incident from media and will inquire about it.
"I will have to speak to the BMO to ascertain the fact. The people in the villages under Khalwa police station area are known to practice this particular superstition," said Awase.