80 held for bizarre burials of infants alive
Some people will believe almost anything apparently
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Madurai: 80 held for bizarre burials of infants alive
Madurai, April 14: The Tamil Nadu police has booked cases against 80 persons for participating in the bizarre ritual of burying infants alive as a means of fulfilling their vows, near Rajapalayam in Virudhunagar district.
The age-old ritual Kuzhimattru, which literally means changing pits, was performed on Monday as part of the annual festival at the Muthumariamman temple at Chatrapatti Ayyanapuram near Rajapalayam. The Keelarajakularaman police registered cases against 80 persons on Tuesday for participating in it.
The ritual is performed in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, particularly in the Mariamman temples, by people from different communities. It is done by couples who take a vow to bury alive their firstborn if they are blessed with a child.
To fulfil the vow they bury children who may be less than a year old in two-foot-deep pits which are then covered with neem leaves and a sprinkling of earth in the courtyard of temples.
The priest performs certain ceremonies and steps across the pits. It is only then that the children are taken out and laid prostrate before the deities.
As reports filtered in that a similar ritual would take place at M. Pudupatti village in Virudhunagar, the police proceeded to the village and warned the people against performing it. The ritual was consequently abandoned. The police suggested to the villagers that if the parents wanted to fulfill their vows, they could lay the infants on the floor and walk across them.
About three years ago, a minister for local administration in the Tami Nadu government, Mr C. Dorairaj, was dismissed by chief minister Jayalalithaa for participating in such a ritual at Perayur in Madurai district. The government also brought in an ordinance banning the bizarre ritual.
A law, called the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Ritual and Practice of Burying Alive of a Person Act, 2002, came into force on November 18, 2002. The punishment under the legislation includes imprisonment up to three years with or without a fine of Rs 5,000.
Advocate T. Lajapathi Roy, who was part of a team from the Soco Trust Madurai, which investigated the Perayur incident, said that the team had discovered that there are no doctors or other medical facilities available at the venue when the ritual is performed. Though casualties have not been reported in this ritual, he said that chances of the infants dying of suffocation could not be ruled out.
When contacted, Virudhunagar district collector Mohamed Aslam said those who had been booked had earlier been warned against going ahead with the ritual but had not listened. “These people contend that no harm will come to the children during the ritual, which has been performed for many decades. We are trying to create awareness and prevent it from taking place. But it is only in some villages like M. Pudupatti that we are able to persuade the people listen to us,” he said.
-The Asian Age
