It is known that many superstitions and strange customs are practised in rural parts of India. Now, six minor girls in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh state were stripped and paraded naked to summon rains. They were made to do ritual begging door-to-door stripped to satisfy the God of rain as part of local practice.
Stripped naked, they made the minor girls parade, carrying heavy pestles on their shoulders. Women accompanying these girls sing bhajans to praise the rain god.
The National Commission for the Protection of the Rights of the Child was outraged when the matter came to light in local newspapers. This incident occurred on Sunday at Baniya village under the Jabera police station area, about 50 km from the Damoh district headquarter, in the Bundelkhand region.
Earlier, Damoh SP Tenivar had said that due to low rainfall in the area, the villagers would follow the practice every year with the permission of the children. “We are investigating to find out if anyone did this to them by force. If the same is true, we will take action against those responsible,” he said.