Madhya Pradesh: 3-month-old girl poked 51 times with hot iron rod to treat pneumonia, dies

A case of death of a 3-month-old girl due to superstition has come to light in Madhya Pradesh. The post-mortem will be done today after taking out the buried dead body of the girl. Allegedly in the wake of superstition, the sick  3-month-old baby girl was poked several times with hot rods, due to which the condition of the girl child worsened and she died during treatment.

This case pertains to Kathoutia area of Shahdol district in Madhya Pradesh. This news came to the fore a day before. Now it has been acertained in this matter that there was no ANM in the village since October, the one who was posted there was transferred, due to which the girl child was not vaccinated.

Notably, a 3-month-old girl from Singhpur Kathoutia area in Shahdol district had difficulty in breathing due to pneumonia. Due to superstition, her family took her to a quack for treatment. He used hot rods as a medicine for the child’s disease. The girl was not poked once or twice, but 51 times with the red hot iron rods. Due to this the health of the girl child deteriorated. In such a situation, the family members took her to Shahdol Medical College. But the girl child could not be saved.

Shahdol Collector Vandana Vaidya said that the Anganwadi worker had told the girl’s mother twice to don’t get the girl girl poked with hot iron rod. Despite that they did not listen and when the women and child development officials went to the hospital, it was found that this incident was 15 days old. Pneumonia had progressed and the baby girl died due to increasing infection.

Another similar case has also come to the fore in Madhya Pradesh from Samatpur village adjacent to Kathautia, in which, another girl has been branded with hot rods 24 times in the pretense of treatment. It is being told that after the condition worsened, she was admitted to the Medical College Shahdol.

When the condition became serious, her family members took her from the medical college to a private hospital. Three-month-old Shubhi Kol has breathing problems. Mother Sonu Kol and father Suraj Kol got treated her from a doctor without degree but did not get any relief, later they took her to the medical college. Due to continuous illness, a woman of the village in the name of giving treatment, burnt the girl child with hot iron rod with the consent of her family members.