Karnataka: Hoping miracle during solar eclipse, parents bury physically challenged kids neck-deep in cattle dung in Kalaburagi

KALABURAGI: On Thursday morning, while the entire nation was watching the annular solar eclipse , parents of some disabled children in Kalaburagi, the administrative headquarters of the Gulbarga district of Karnataka, had buried them neck-deep in a pit full of dung believing that the kids would be cured if they do so during the rare celestial event.
A total of six physically challenged children were buried neck-deep in cattle dung pits in three villages in the district during the three-hour-long solar eclipse.

Puja Khemaling (5), Sanjana Suryakanth (3) and Kaveri Mallappa (11) were buried partially at Taj-Sultanapur village on the outskirts of Kalaburagi city.
One of the parents of the children told TOI the dung or animal waste turns holy and it attains magical power during the solar eclipse and burying these kids till neck would make them normal. Another woman said that village elders had suggested her to do so.
Soon after hearing the news, some members -- attached to a progressive thinking group and district child protection officer, Bheemaraya -- rushed to the spot and removed the children from the pit.
Bheemaraya told TOI, “We reached the Taj-Sultanpur village at the end of the solar eclipse and immediately shifted all three children to the district hospital where they underwent medical tests. The tests were done to check whether the children will become normal after the surgeries or not.”
An orthopedists, Dr S Kamareddy, practising in Kalaburgi, has agreed to perform surgeries for free if these children have chances of becoming normal, said Bheemaraya.
The district child protection officer also said that according to the doctors, Puja and Kaveri can be treated and can go under the knife but Sanjana, who is just three-year-old, would have to wait for the surgery.
Puja is suffering from a right-hand disability, Sanjana can't stand properly and Kaveri’s foot is turned inwards.
Bheemaraya told that all three children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) that will decide what to do next. Right now children are at Government Bala Mandira.
Another child, Mohammad Imran (5), was buried till neck in cattle dung pit at Ainolli village in Chincholi taluk where officials did not visit. In Gadi- Lingadali village of same taluka, two more children were said to be buried partially.