Keonjhar: Superstition and blind faith still prevail in the rural pockets of the country and this was once again evident in Jhanjhana village under Soso police limits in Odisha’s Keonjhar district on Sunday evening.
According to reports, one Junurani, wife of Suryamani Behera, was bitten by a poisonous snake in Jhanjhana village on Sunday evening. However, instead of taking her to a medical center, her family took the victim to the Mangala temple in the village expecting miracles to happen.
“At the Mangala temple, a ‘gunia’ (sorcerer) named Minati Dehuri performed some ‘black magic’ on the victim, but it failed to provide any relief. Next, the woman sorcerer tried to suck out the poison from Junurani’s wound with the mouth. While this too failed to cure the victim, the sorcerer herself fell ill after coming in contact with the snake venom, said Namita Rani Behera, a relative of the snake bite victim.
The villagers rushed both women to Anandpur Medical Center where the doctors attending to Junurani declared her ‘brought dead’. The condition of the sorcerer Minati Dehuri is said to be critical.
Meanwhile, the sorcerer told the media that this was the first time she tried to cure a snake bite patient by sucking the blood out from the wound.
