School in Northern India Arrested for Boy's Ritual Sacrifice
2024-09-27 11:00- A young boy was killed in a ritual sacrifice by school staff in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, India.
- The accused, including the school director and three teachers, believed the act would improve the school's financial situation.
- This tragic incident highlights the ongoing issue of human sacrifices in India, which are performed to appease deities.
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Insights
In a shocking incident in September 2023, a young boy was killed in a ritual sacrifice at a private school in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, India. The victim, a second-grade student, was abducted from his hostel while he was sleeping. The school director, Dinesh Baghel, and his father, Jashodhan Singh, orchestrated the act with the help of three teachers, believing it would appease the gods and improve the school's financial prospects. The police reported that this was not the first attempt at such a sacrifice; the accused had previously tried to sacrifice another boy, but that plan failed. On the night of the incident, the boy was taken to a well behind the school for the ritual. When he awoke and attempted to escape, the perpetrators panicked and strangled him. The following morning, school staff discovered the boy's lifeless body in his hostel bed. Instead of contacting the authorities, Baghel drove around the city with the corpse, while the boy's family was misled about his condition. They eventually found their child's body in the car after pursuing the school officials. This tragic event underscores the disturbing reality of human sacrifices in India, which, although rare, still occur as individuals seek to fulfill wishes through such extreme measures. The National Crime Records Bureau reported 103 cases of human sacrifice between 2014 and 2021, indicating a concerning trend that needs to be addressed.
Contexts
In a shocking series of events, India has witnessed a disturbing rise in human sacrifice cases, with several incidents reported in 2023. One of the most heinous cases involved the brutal killing of a nine-year-old boy in Maharashtra's Nashik district. The boy's throat was slit by four individuals, two of whom were related to him, and his body was half-buried in the ground. This tragic incident highlights the dark underbelly of superstition that continues to plague certain communities in India. Another chilling case emerged from Uttar Pradesh, where a man named Anoop Verma was arrested for the murder of his cousin, Vivek Verma. Anoop, desperate to cure his ailing 2.5-year-old son, sought the help of a local black magic practitioner who suggested that a child sacrifice could improve his son's health. This case, like many others, underscores the belief that human sacrifices can bring prosperity, fertility, or healing, a notion that has led to countless tragedies. The Guwahati police recently made significant progress in a 2019 case involving the decapitation of Shanti Shaw, a 64-year-old woman. The alleged ringleader, Pradeep Pathak, orchestrated the killing as part of a religious rite to appease the soul of his deceased brother. With 12 individuals involved, the police have apprehended five suspects, while others remain at large, raising concerns about the prevalence of such rituals in society. Activists like Sanal Edamaruku have long campaigned against these superstitious practices, arguing that the true number of human sacrifices is vastly underreported. With over 100,000 children untraced in India, Edamaruku links these disappearances to the dark world of superstition and human sacrifice, calling for urgent action to combat these deeply entrenched beliefs.
