When a traditional healer burned hot clay
into the chest of two-year-old Kushbu Lal, she died. Now moves are afoot to
criminalise a practice that continues to cost lives
By Helen Roberts in Rajasthan
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Bhopa
‘witch doctor’ Ladi Vaieshnav, 70, shows a piece of clay similar to that used
for
branding toddlers. Photograph: Tanzeel Ur Rehman/Cover Asia Pres
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Jamna Lal shifts uncomfortably on his ancient
charpoy bed, seemingly unable to comprehend that he may have been responsible
for the death of his two-year-old daughter. He thinks for some time and
eventually nods his head. “Yes, I’m also responsible. I decided to take her to
the bhopa instead of the hospital, and I must suffer the consequences.”
Lal’s daughter, Kushbu, developed breathing
problems in January last year. Like many families in villages around Bhilwara,
in the southern Indian state of Rajasthan, he did not immediately think of
taking her to the hospital.
Communities in this area turn to bhopas, or
witch doctors, who believe that burning a child’s chest with a hot piece of
iron, clay or cloth will scorch a particular nerve and cure them of certain
illnesses.
Kushbu had a hot piece of clay burned into
her chest. Her condition worsened, and she was rushed to hospital. She survived
for eight days before she died.
“My ancestors have been doing this for many
years,” Lal, 65, says. “We all do it. We took my older daughter Naraya to the
bhopa when she was little and she got better and we thought Kushbu would get
better too.”
The day after Kushbu died, her father was
arrested. Kushbu’s body was taken for a postmortem. “I had no idea why the
police were there,” says Lal, who works as a farmer and a labourer, often
earning just 300 rupees (£3.30) a day.
Under India’s Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 he
had, in fact, recklessly ignored Kushbu’s safety by taking her to the bhopa.
Since she was appointed chair of Rajasthan’s
child welfare committee, Suman Trivedi has worked to end the child branding
tradition. “When I was a social worker I was faced with many frustrating
injustices, but I had little power to do anything,” she says. “Through the
child welfare committee I have powers to make real change.”
When she discovered no organisations were
looking into the practice, she began to ask questions. “I found the Juvenile
Justice Act covers child cruelty and I decided to use the law to implement
change.”
Trivedi instructed hospitals across Bhilwara
to inform her when a branding case was admitted. Though three children have
died, she has lodged 14 cases with the police since 2016, which are awaiting
trial.
One of those arrested is the witch doctor
accused of branding Kushbu, 70-year-old Ladi Vaieshnav. “I’ve treated around 40
children over the last 20 years but not one has ever died,” she says. “I was
shocked and felt pain when I heard of the death of the little girl but the
father wanted me to do it. He came to me.
“I learned the methods from another [bhopa]
many years ago. I don’t know how, but these babies would be cured within 20
minutes of the branding. It worked many times.”
Her 35-year-old son, Satyanarayan, who has a
branding scar on his chest, says: “She’s spent years doing good. Many babies
have been cured. But something went wrong this time.”
Vaieshnav, who is awaiting trial, insists she
will never brand another baby. “I tell everyone I’m no longer doing it. And I
tell other bhopas to stop. Things can go wrong, and these children should go to
the hospital.”
Trivedi says that branding has spiralled out
of control. “It’s due to a lack of education, and the levels of illiteracy in
these parts,” she says. “The government’s healthcare is not reaching the
grassroots, and these communities think the old remedies will heal their
child.”
But she believes she is making progress. “The
first time we lodged a case with the police there was a lot of opposition. The
parents got angry. But branding a child is wrong. If you make a chapati, and
dip it in hot oil, it’ll burn your skin. These parents are burning materials
and branding their babies. How must the child feel? They can’t express their
pain but cry.
“I know the parent’s intentions are not bad.
They want their child to get better, but they don’t realise the path they’re
choosing is the wrong one. I need to make people aware that it’s a crime and I
have to make some strict decisions. But the results speak for themselves. There
are fewer branding issues today because people are aware that if they’re caught
I will lodge a case against them and they’re scared now.”
But while bhopas claim to have stopped the
practice, older family members still use the techniques. When Panibai, 65, from
a village outside Bhilwara, saw her three-year-old grandson, Sundar, struggling
with fever and dehydration last summer, she burned a corner of her sari in the
fire pit and branded his chest three times. Within 24 hours, he got worse. He
spent the next six days in hospital.
Her son Raju Kalbaliya, 35, has a branding
scar on his chest too. He understands why his mother branded his son but admits
he was alarmed when he heard. “My mother did what she had to do,” he says.
“There’s no medical assistance in these parts so we have this custom and it’s
worked for many babies here.
“But I felt pain when I heard my son had
experienced this. I know it’s not good, and I’m telling the community it’s not
good. We should use the hospitals for the sake of our children.”
Panibai was arrested and is also awaiting
trial. If found guilty she faces a hefty fine and a minimum three years in
prison for child cruelty.
Dr Radhe Shayam Shrotriya, head of
paediatrics at the government-run Medical College hospital in Bhilwara, has
seen 11 cases of branding in the past two years. “These children are brought
here very sick and it becomes very difficult to treat them. The branding is on
the abdominal wall, sometimes an incision, sometimes a thumbprint type, but the
parents do not understand what they’re doing is wrong.
“When we find out they’ve been branded we
call the police, and since doing this over the last two years we’ve seen the
numbers drop. But we can’t just punish the parents, we need to counsel them. If
their babies are ill, they should go to the hospital. These parents don’t want
to kill their baby, but these parents are ignorant and very misguided, I feel
much empathy for them.”
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Naresh Pareek of the Mewar Sewa Sansthan
charity, which is backed by the organisation Plan International, is a member of
the child welfare committee. He says: “We’ve faced a lot of challenges as we’ve
pressured these communities to stop. But people are aware now, and they know of
the consequences. People get angry with us but we face their anger. I feel it’s
our moral obligation.”
Trivedi adds: “I think we’re on the right
path. There has already been a decline in branding cases and even if it will
take a number of years, it will disappear from our society in the end.”
Jamna Lal looks at a small passport-size
photograph of his daughter. “I lost my child, I will never get her back. I will
not use bhopas again, we must use hospitals.”
