Parents brand 6-yr-old daughter with hot iron in East Godavari

Rajahmundry,  Parents of a six-year-old girl were taken into custody by police today for allegedly branding their daughter with a hot iron as part of a black magic ritual at Pithapuram, in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.

The six-year-old's parents allegedly locked her up inside their house for a week and got her mouth, hands and other body parts branded with a hot iron, police said. 

The parents said they had carried out the black magic ritual to relieve their daughter from her so-called sins after she was born on 'Amavasya' (new moon night), which is considered inauspicious. 

"We contacted a priest to perform the ritual and he was doing so for the past one week,"  the parents told police. The case came to light after neighbours who heard the child's cries, entered the house and rescued her from her parents' clutches. They then handed over the child to Pithapuram police. Although the parents were taken into custody, the priest involved in the affair is absconding, police said, adding that a search has been launched to nab him. 

-PTI