BERHAMPUR: An eight-month-old girl died on Sunday after being branded with a hot iron sickle by a woman in Totasahi village under Baliguda of Kandhamal district.
Bharati Digal of the village had given birth to twins - a boy and a girl - eight months back. Bharati’s husband, Naveen informed that the infants had taken ill three days back. They suffered from stomach ailment and loose motion. Although the couple admitted the children to Barakhama health centre, the infants could not be cured. Their neighbour, Manju Nayak then allegedly advised them to brand the children with hot sickle.
The couple agreed to it and on Saturday evening, Manju branded the children. When the twins fell asleep after the procedure, the parents thought that they were cured. On Sunday morning, Bharati found the girl dead and boy suffering from fever. They rushed the children to the health centre again with the help of ASHA worker, Kabita Digal, but doctors declared the girl brought dead and admitted the boy. The boy was later shifted to Baliguda hospital.