Guwahati News Desk: As part of a ritual to summon rain, at least six minor girls were made to parade naked in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district on Sunday.
The incident took place at Baniya village, located about 50 kilometres from the Damoh district headquarters in the drought-prone Bundelkhand region.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights took cognisance of the matter and asked the district administration to submit a report on it.
The Damoh Superintendent of Police DR Teniwar said they received information that the minor girls were made to walk naked in order“to appease the god of rains” as part of a local practice.
He added, “Police are investigating this incident…Action will be taken if it is found that girls were forced to go naked.”
Teniwar further claimed that this ritual was an event that the villagers used to follow annually.
As per the sources, during the Sunday’s ritual, the girls were made to walk around carrying pestles (utensils used to grind food) on their shoulders. After which, they went door-to-door asking for flour, pulses and cereals, which were to be donated to a community kitchen set up in front of a village temple.
Further adding that the villagers complained about the ritual, the District Collector of Damoh, S Krishna Chaitanya, said, “In such cases, the administration can only make the villagers aware about the futility of such superstition and make them understand that such practices don’t yield desired results.”
Moreover, several videos of the incident have also surfaced on social media, and in one of them, the girls were seen carrying a wooden shaft on their shoulders with a frog tied to it. While another video showed some women saying that the ritual was being performed as the paddy crops were drying.
Photo | One India
