Eleven devotees have been killed and dozens injured in a stampede outside a makeshift ashram of a quack in Bharra village, about 30 km from Jabalpur, on Thursday. Sarotewale Baba, called so because he uses a type of nut-crackers to cure eye ailments, meets his patients and devotees only once a week. On Thursday, thousands of devotees and patients lined up near the ashram either to get their ailments cured or to drink a drop of the holy water the baba sprinkles on his devotees when the incident took place. Most people said the stampede occurred when it started to rain suddenly and the devotees scrambled for shelter. According to one version, the sprinkling of holy water could have set off the stampede because the baba reappeared after taking an hour-long break in the afternoon. A magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident. Such is the popularity of the baba that people from far and wide visit him every Thursday. They believe he has divine powers that help him cure people who have been written-off by doctors. Despite the crude and inhuman technique—the baba inserts the handle of a pair of nut-crackers normally used to cut betel nut into the eye—his followers are many. The narrow passage leading to the house he uses as his ashram only compounded the tragedy. The injured were shifted to Jabalpur Medical College where the condition of some of the victims was reported to be critical. The Government has announced a relief of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of the deceased and a relief of Rs 10,000 to the seriously injured. Health Minister Ajay Vishoi said it was a matter of faith and the Government could intervene as far as making arrangements at such places was concerned. He claimed keeping in mind the rush, adequate police deployment had been made.
