Karnataka: Infants placed on hot coals as part of religious ritual

In the name of rituals, infants wrapped in banana leaves are made to lie down on a bed of hot coals in Dharwad's Kundgol town near Hubli.

The act is reportedly part of a Muharram ritual and is performed after a wish sought for the child gets fulfilled.

Scores of people from different parts of the nation come here to participate in the ritual.

This is not the first case where such peculiar customs are followed in the name of god, overlooking the safety of the toddlers.

In certain villages of Maharashtra and Karnataka tods are thrown from the roof a building before plummeting 15 metres onto a bedsheet below.

Recently, another weird news that came to light was of Tamil Nadu's Madurai district where several girls decked up like goddesses were made to participate bare-chested at a festival in Vellalur.

This ritual that takes place annually, witnesses scores of adolescent girls dressed up in a similar style with no upper garments and being paraded in front of the Yezhaikaatha Amman Temple at Vellalur.