Rajasthan: 10-month-old burnt with hot needle

A 10-month-old baby was allegedly burnt on the neck using a hot iron needle in Rajasthan's Banswara.

The act was reportedly carried out with a superstitious belief of curing a disease the baby boy was suffering from.

The baby's condition is critical and is being treated in a Udaipur hospital.

Condemning the incident, the Chief Medical and Health Officer SL Ninama said the people from the tribal area do not take proper medical facility and often fall prey to such practices.

"Till now the people from tribal area follows blind rituals in the name of treatment. They do not take proper medication but prefer these superstitious beliefs which are absolutely incorrect," Ninama told ANI.

He further said strict action should be taken against the people practising such things.

In a similar incident, a woman in Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra district suffered 25 percent injuries after being branded with a hot iron rod.

The victim, a resident of Arangi village, was admitted to a hospital here with 25 percent burn injuries after two women branded her with a hot rod over suspicions of the victim being possessed.

Although the victim's mother blamed her in-laws for the incident, the police said she started behaving strangely, after which the two women branded her to 'remove the ghost from her body.