Posted on 01/25/2024 10:20:26 AM PST by Morgana
Tragedy struck in India when a five-year-old boy diagnosed with terminal cancer was drowned as his family tried to cure him with water from the River Ganges.
Police say the child, who had leukemia, died after his parents submerged him in the river flowing through northern India in a superstitious bid to cure him.
The family had reportedly travelled from their home in Delhi to Haridwar on Tuesday to perform the ceremony and pray for the unnamed victim.
Their taxi driver said the child was accompanied by his parents and a female relative identified as his aunt by local media.
The driver said the boy looked 'extremely unwell' and that doctors in the capital had given up on trying to save him - leading the family to take more desperate measures.
Video shared locally showed the parents later chanting prayers as his 'aunt' held him under the water.
Bystanders reportedly told the family to stop as they continued to hold the boy under the water, considered sacred to Hindus.
Some intervened when the family refused, video showing the 'aunt' trying to attack onlookers as they tried to pull the child out of the water.
The child was pulled out of the water and taken to hospital, where doctors formally announced he had died.
In one clip, the boy's 'aunt' is seen calling out that the child will come back to life.
The family members were all taken into custody for questioning, police said.
Haridwar city police chief Swantantra Kumar said: 'It appears that they brought the boy here because they believed that Ganga snan [cleansing] would cure him.'
The River Ganges, with a central role in India's founding history, has lasting religious and cultural significance to Hindus.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I read what you just posted and I wonder how they managed to put a rocket on the Moon when Russia could not.
Must be pure beginner’s luck.
Can they cure Biden’s dementia?
There are plenty of stupid people in the west who are doing awful things to kids. For instance, public school teachers.
Is it really superstitious when it is part of a religion?
Just to make sure I found a definition of superstitious that said "irrational fear of what is unknown or mysterious, especially in connection with religion."
Even with that definition, the parents were not being superstitious.
The article was actually an attack on faith however misguided.
I was going to say something similar.
No, he died because there was nothing medical science could do for him and his parents were desperate.
People go to quacks in the US all the time for the same reason.
They only hastened his death. He did not have long to live as it was.
I believe that is still practiced.
That explains a lot.
Reminds me of how progressive non western countries really are. No one seems to be stampeeding to get there.
“No, he died because there was nothing medical science could do for him”
Medical science had jack all to do with his parents drowning him in a filthy river. Their backwards retrograde religion did. Hinduism has held India down for six thousand years.
He was terminally ill. They hastened his death, but he was going to die regardless.
Even here in the States, people turn to all kinds of desperate measures when modern medicine has reached its limits. And yes, they turn to religion, also.
“He was terminally ill. They hastened his death, but he was going to die regardless.”
You mean they euthanized him.
“Even here in the States, people turn to all kinds of desperate measures when modern medicine has reached its limits. And yes, they turn to religion, also.”
And in the United States we take people who murder their children and put them in prison. Regardless of their reasons and regardless of their religion.
No, I wouldn’t call that euthanizing him. For an act to be euthanization, they have to have intent, and the intent to kill him was not there.
They were performing a religious ceremony out of desperation. They did not intend to drown him, and they were stupid to think they could submerge him without drowning him. They thought they were saving him.
What they did is not very different from what American parents do when they decide to depend on “faith healing” instead of getting their child medical treatment. The difference is that the Indian family had sought medical treatment and only turned to faith healing when the treatment became futile. Often, American parents who depend on “faith healing” are only charged after their children die for lack of medical care.
My point is, that he was not going to last long no matter what they did.
And yes, the parents will probably face some jail time.
“My point is, that he was not going to last long no matter what they did.”
Regardless of how short it may have been, I find your insistence on diminishing this child’s right to life more disturbing than what his ignorant parents did to him.
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