Sacrificing kids for treasure in Madhya Pradesh

lotus blossom

this is a tragic story. anyone familiar with this sort of thing?

By IANS
Sunday August 20, 08:58 AM
Bhopal, Aug 20 (IANS) The killing of a four-year-old in Madhya's Pradesh's Raisen district may not be a case of child sacrifice as the police say, but such killings for treasure are not uncommon.

Read the full Times of India Article here

__________________
Not all who wander are lost

Nick-H

Yes.

The last article I read a family had been told by the local guru that they would have bad luck if they did not kill one of their children. So they did. People got arrested for it, though I never saw the outcome.

Such items usually say that the police are unwilling to investigate, or that they cover stuff up. Like child marriage, it is hard to stand up to 'tradition'.

If one or two examples get into the press then I wonder how often such dreadful things happen, far away from the notice of all but their local village

----------------------------------------------------------------
boring Mod stuff: please post articles from other sources int the News and Commentary forum, giving a synopsis or quoting the first paragraph, with a link to the original. Thanks

__________________
.


Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

sirensongs

Exactly, Nick. I read a few accounts like this every year in the papers. For every one that gets to the newsmedia, you've got to figure there are several more that do not.

Child sacrifice still goes on. People are afraid to talk for all kinds of reasons, including some that might surprise you. Last year I was part of an India news forum in which one genuinely alarmed (Indian) guy wrote in about such an incident. In said incident the victim was a kid who had been convinced to cut his tongue out as an offering to "the goddess."

A furor followed his posting of this article. *Not*, however, because people were outraged that it had happened, or been allowed to happen...nor were they particularly outraged that there was no prosecution for child abuse by local authorities.

No. The readers were angry at the original poster for posting the news item. They were concerned that by doing so, he would "give Hinduism a bad name" and "make India look bad."

In other words, the news forum participants didn't give a damn about the kid's welfare or that of others like him...they were concerned about their "face." About the act itself, they displayed no moral outrage at all. Not one person said "wow, this is really barbaric, we need to reform these customs" or "we need an educational campaign in the hinterlands," or anything constructive of that nature. They were only interested in shutting up the messenger.

My disbelief continued as the original poster then wrote back apologetically (!) saying that he, in fact, should not have posted the news item about the abused kid...because people "might get the wrong idea about India."

There are all kinds of reasons you don't hear more about this; it's not just because it happens in obscure villages to poor people. Other, more responsible people seem to feel they have an interest in covering such things up.

__________________
"Why do people go to India to find themselves? India is where you go to lose yourself."
Feringhee: The India Diaries

greenchutney

biting my tongue nick. just biting it.

Jorge Reverter

Unfortunately we still read this kind of news quite often.

In my opinion old tribal customs and thousands years of ignorance are behind this unfortunate incidents. Is the black side of the moon.

Jorge

lotus blossom

i too suspect that few of these stories make the paper. i find it astonishing how superstitiously religious india can be, to the extent that parents are willing to kill their own children, or marry their infant daughters to old men.

----------------------------------------------------------------
thanks for the boring mod stuff info nick. i'll try and pay better attention in the future

lotus blossom

there is the occassional thread, or posts on IM, where members are offended about saying anything negative about india. i've been on other forums where saying anything negative about the u.s. government policies, generates similar responses.

it confounds me why anyone would want to keep those things secret that obviously need to be looked at, discussed, addressed, and dealt with. you know what they say: "a person (or nation, religion or group) is as sick as their secrets..."

lotus blossom

this person, lotus blossom, takes issue with ANY religion that sacrifices people. the essence of religion has been so convoluted with fundamentalism that most have lost sight of the true teachings of the prophets, from jesus to mohammad to krishna, etc., etc.

peace!

Sama

any more personal attacks, Muslim bashing, etc., this thread will be closed. This thread is not a Hindu v. Muslim discussion.

__________________
My India, 2005-2008
BE THE REVOLUTION

Sama

There is nothing anti-Hindu about this thread, any more than the film Water was anti-Hindu. I also read nothing that was anti-Jewish or anti-American. If anything, lotus blossum was pointing out how some religious practices are ANTI-HUMANE. However, your constant harping about the Muslims and the Koran is absolute prejudice, and because of that, this thread is closed.