Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The healer arrested by Shahdol police on Monday evening is a woman who is responsible for branding children with hot iron rod. Both the children died in last one week.
The Shahdol district administration has launched the drive to check the children up to the age of three months to know whether they are infected by pneumonia or were branded with hot iron rod, a common healing practice prevalent in the district. In preliminary investigation, the team has identified two to three children but they are out of danger.
Collector Vandana Vaidya told Free Press that the district administration had taken stern action against the field officer and staff posted in Sohagpur development block. As many as 11 staff have been shifted, services of three Asha and Asha assistant have been terminated.
She said an intensive drive had been launched in the district to trace pneumonia-affected children. The medical staff are also finding out whether they are branded with hot iron rod. The SP Kumar Prateek informed that the police arrested the healer a woman. She had branded both the children with hot iron rod.
The family members of one child were not disclosing the name or the identity of the healer. But the police found her. He added that the police have launched the drive to prevent such incidents in future.
The SP informed that the 3-month-old girl who was admitted in the government-run medical college Shahdol on Wednesday and shifted to a private facility for treatment after being branded 20 times with a hot iron rod. She died late Saturday night. In village Kathautiya under Singhpur police station, the body of a two-and-half-month-old girl was exhumed. She had died due to similar reason on Friday.
