Infant girl with pneumonia dies days after being branded with hot needle in Gujarat

Khadiya said the child was under pneumonia treatment and seems to have died from it. “The girl was primarily undergoing treatment for pneumonia and prima facie died due to that. Her burn injuries due to branding were not that serious,” Khadiya further said.

According to the police complaint, the family took Komal to the shrine believing the chosen deity woman, Putali Thakor, can cure her.

After the infant caught a cold, her parents–Pravin and Manisha—and grandparents—Chatur Surela and Vinuben—first took her to a private hospital in Viramgam for treatment on August 4. However, after the doctor told them that the girl’s treatment would involve some expenses, the family took her home and later went to Thakor in Dadada village the same day.

“We were told that Putali Keshaji Thakor, a resident of Vadgam village of Dasada taluka and who is chosen one of goddess Shakti does healing and can heal. Believing that she will be healed too, we four took Komal to Putali’s home in Vadgam village where there is a shrine of goddess Shakti… At the shrine, Putali sought blessings for Komal and then branded her thrice on her stomach with the help of a needle after heating it in the holy lamp in the shrine,” an FIR registered at Dasada police station quotes Chatur Surela as having stated in his complaint on August 5.

Police said that there was no improvement in Komal’s health after even being branded and eventually the family, who are earning their living by selling vegetables in Viramgam, brought the girl to the Rajkot hospital as advised by Manisha’s father, Dinesh Mulji.

The incident had come to light on Saturday after the girl was taken to the Rajkot civil hospital. Based on a complaint filed by Chatur Surela, Dasada police had booked 83-year-old Putali Thakor under IPC Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) as well as under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act’s Section 75 (punishment for a person having control of a child assaults, abandons, abuses or wilfully neglects the child).

“She was arrested on August 5 itself. We had produced her in a local court with an application seeking her remand.

However, the court didn’t grant our application and sent her to judicial custody and therefore, she is presently under judicial custody,” PSI Khadiya said.

Branding to heal ailments was prevalent in parts of Saurashtra and Kutch earlier. Dr Rajesh Maheshwari, who has campaigned against it for 20 years, said the practice is inhumane and unscientific.

“It is inhumane to brand children who are already sick and this practice of healing has no scientific backing. On the contrary, the burns caused by branding affect the child’s health adversely and can also prove fatal if they are infected,” Dr Maaheshwari told The Indian Express. “The government should make efforts to eradicate this practice and I am ready to volunteer for any NGO which takes up this cause,” he added.