Keonjhar: In a shocking incident, family members of a dead girl child branded her body with hot metal with the hope that she would be alive again in a village of Keonjhar district.
According to reports, two daughters of Tankadhar Maharana of Purandapur village under Turamunga police limits in the district, Itishree and Lipi, were suffering from severe diarrhoea. They were being taken in a critical state to the District Headquarters Hospital (DHH) in Keonjhar when the elder daughter Itishree died. Lipi was admitted to the hospital where she too breathed her last.
After Lipi’s body was brought home, the devastated family members branded her body with hot metal to resurrect her and were disappointed to see no response. On being informed, police went to the village and launched investigation.
According to sources, branding hot metals on children when they are sick is a common practice especially among the tribal community of the district. But it is the first time that an incident has come to light where family members branded a dead child with hot metal.