20 children branded with hot iron in Odisha!

Bhubaneswar: As many as 20 children were branded with hot iron as a ritualistic tradition on the occasion of ‘Chitalagi Amabasya’ at Bheemasahi village under Papadahandi block of Nabarangpur district.

According to sources, as per the tradition several families of the village branded their children with hot iron on the occasion of the Chitalagi Amabasya as a mark to keep them healthy in their lives.

Getting information, officials of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), teams of Asha and anganwadi workers visited the village and took stock of the matter.

“How much we try to spread awareness about modern healthcare facilities being freely available, people still resort to the old traditional ways of healing their children. What is shocking is that none other than the head of their families are directly responsible for branding the children with hot iron,” said Chandrama Maharana, an Asha worker.

The practice of branding children with hot iron to heal them from several diseases continues in Odisha and several such incidents have been reported in the recent past.