Nabarangpur: A nine-month-old boy died after being branded with hot iron to cure his illness. Such an incident has occurred at Jadapara village in Nabarangpur district.
Reportedly, the deceased identified as Rupesh Gond, son of Sukdeb Gond of the village was suffering from cold and fever. The local ASHA worker Sahanti Gond visited their house on Tuesday and advised the family to take the child to the nearest hospital.
However, the family decided to adopt traditional treatment and called an old woman to their house on Wednesday, who branded Rupesh with hot iron. Sahanti reached the spot at the moment and immediately called the 108 ambulance service.
After the arrival of the ambulance, Rupesh was taken to Hatabharandi Community Health Center in critical condition. The doctor advised that Rupesh has to stay at the health center till he recovers. Rupesh’s family did not like to be treated in the health center and wanted to go back home but the doctor refused to relieve him.
At around 10 am on Thursday, when the ASHA worker and doctor arrived at the CHC, they found Rupesh has been taken away by his family. The doctor lodged an FIR in this regard at Kundei Police Station.
When Sahanti reached Rupesh’s home, she found that he was again being branded with hot iron. She tried to convince his family members but to no avail. Finally, Rupesh died in the wee hours of Friday.
