Odisha police honour good samaritans after kidnapped minor rescued unharmed
Two miscreants had abducted the girl while she was returning home with her grandmother from tuition classes.
In a bizarre incident, parents attempted to resurrect their 7-year-old dead son for almost 12 hours by performing puja in a village in Kendrapara district.
The superstitious rituals failed to revive the child. The unsavoury incident, that occurred Friday at Balipala village of Mahakalpada tehsil of the comparatively developed coastal district of Kendrapara, has left the people here perplexed.
Finally, the bereaved family relented and cremated the body following the intervention of some local youths.
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Mahesh Sagar Pradhan suffering with illness was rushed to the district headquarters hospital. But he was received dead by the hospital authorities. But the deceased’s father- Sridhar Pradhan (36) who was an ardent follower of a self-styled Godman was insistent that his son is still alive. Thereafter the tantric rituals to bring the kid back to life began and it lasted for almost 12 hours.
As the news of performance of rituals of reviving the dead child spread fast, a group of educated youths from the village thought ‘enough is enough’ and stubbornly opposed the superstition-bound rituals. The dogmatic parents finally gave in and stopped the rituals after counselling by the local youths. The body was later cremated with village youths performing the role of pall bearers.
The superstitious practice of this nature was never heard of in the district. It’s a stray case. Deep shock over the death of their son might have driven the traumatized parents to take recourse to such rituals, said rationalist, Biraja Kumar Pati.
However the incident at Balipala village is not a singular one. Instances of relatives trying to resurrect the dead kin have hogged spotlight in Boudh, Ganjam, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada and Balasore districts since last one year.
Last week in Balasore district, relatives of a man who had died of snakebite had pressed into service at witchcraft practitioner to revive the dead. The incident ironically occurred at a government-run hospital after the doctors had pronounced him dead.
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