PANCHTHAR, Jan 21: A 14-month-old kid, who was branded with heated spatula and metal rod in a northern village of Panchthar district, has been hospitalized. The toddler of Oyam VDC Ward No 1 had sustained serious burn injuries at his left buttock after local shamans, or jhakris, tortured him saying he has been a victim of witchcraft.
Dipsan Rai, who is having difficulties in making movements of legs, was taken to the Panchthar District Hospital for treatment only after 13 days of the incident. Parents of Rai had allowed the shamans to make their son sit on a heated stone and later brand him with heated spatula in the name of treating his illness. The child was suffering from diarrhea. The local shamans Suka Bahadur Khaling and Til Bahadur Rai even assured Rai's parents that the witchcraft will be warded off if done so.
The incident was kept hush-hush until 12 days and Rai was taken to the hospital only after media publicized it. The incident is being widely criticized by all the visitors who have flocked to the hospital to see the boy, who became a victim of superstition.
Doctors at the district hospital informed that it will take up to four days to heal the festering wound of the kid.
Mother of the toddler, Urmila Rai, remarked that they allowed the baby to undergo the torture thinking that his illness will be healed.
“We were waiting for the burn marks of our baby to be healed but it got serious instead. Our kid became seriously ill as we believed in the jhakris,” she told Republica. “I never thought my kid will have to undergo torture to this level. I thought the jhakris were incarnation of God but I was wrong.”
She informed that the kid was incessantly crying after the incident. The family even sought for another jhakri instead of taking him to the hospital after he was crying continuously. Later, shaman Til Bahadur Rai also branded the baby with hot metals. Dipsan is the sixth kid in the family which is mired in poverty.
Inspector Bijaya Shrestha at the District Police Office, Panchthar, informed that they nabbed jhakri Suka Bahadur Khaling right after the incident was publicized. He said that they are investigating the case.
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