So what follows is example number 4,392,578 of "the harm" that follows from taking actions based upon religious superstition.
Prepare for another "stop the planet I want to get off" moment.
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INDIA: Murderous Blessings
A TV program with Sanal Edamaruku puts a stop
to a crazy 'godman's' horrifying activities
Though Katihar in east Bihar is proud on its Medical College, there are hundreds of people living in the nearby villages who would not seek modern medical treatment for their children when they fall ill. They submit them to a local 'godman' instead, who claims to have magic powers to cure anything from malaria to malnutrition. Baba Jamun Yadav made the poor and illiterate villagers believe that he was able to transfer divine energy through the soles of his feet to their ailing little children. And they allowed him to perform a barbaric ritual.
A camera team of the Indian TV channel Headlines Today caught horrifying scenes of the crazy baba trampling brutally on the tender bodies of hapless infants. He puts one foot with his full weight on their thighs and genitals, the other on their throat, muzzling their screams of deadly terror till they nearly suffocate.
This is nothing but child torture in the garb of religion. But nobody ever stopped the crazy 'holy man' – neither the gullible villagers, nor police and authorities. These cruelties are allegedly going on for some twenty years now. The perpetrator is even making a living out of them as the deluded villagers would shed away gifts and money for his 'blessings'. Nobody knows how many babies have suffered dangerous injuries and sooner or later died as a result of this 'treatment'. And nobody knows what deep psychological wounds and scars this haunting experience has caused in the survivors."
Excerpt from Rationalist International email list
Also:
"Baba Jamun Yadav used to carry out his bizarre practice in the villages of the state's Katihar region. He would make infants lie on the ground and stand on them with his bare feet.
Shouting 'Jai Ho', Yadav would keep one foot on the child's thighs and with the other press hard on the neck, risking the child's death from suffocation.
Action was taken against Yadav after Headlines Today exposed the barbaric practice on Tuesday. Police said Yadav had been put behind bars at the Barari police station and an inquiry had begun.
Yadav had tricked the villagers into believing that he had divine healing powers. They worshipped him and brought their children to him to be cured."
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