As some parts of Madhya Pradesh are facing drought like situation, locals are forced to resort to superstitions to make rain gods happy. A case has been reported in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district where at least six girls were stripped naked as part of a malafide practice, allegedly to please the deity for rain and to get relief from drought-like situation.

Taking cognizance of the matter, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has summoned the Damoh district administration to report the incident. Meanwhile, two videos of the incident have also surfaced in which girls are seen naked.

The bizzare incident took place on Sunday in Bania village of Jabera police station area, about 50 km from Damoh district headquarters of Bundelkhand region. Damoh District Magistrate S Krishna Chaitanya said that the report would be submitted to the NCPCR.

District Superintendent of Police (SP) DR Tenivar said the police had received information that some minor girls were made to walk naked to please the rain god as part of a locally prevalent malafide practice. He said the police is probing the incident and necessary action will be taken, adding that villagers believe that this practice may result in rain.

As per reports, due to drought-like conditions and lack of rain, the villagers follow old belief in which minor girls are made to walk naked, carrying musals (wooden logs used to crush grains) on their shoulders. Frogs were also hanged by musals.

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A group of women also gathered, performed a puja and made minor girls walk naked. These women then took out a procession singing bhajans with the girls and also begged for flour, pulses or other food items, to prepare food in the field and complete the rituals.

However, the officials said the parents of these girls were also involved in the incident and they did so under superstition. No villager has made any complaint in this regard. The District Collector said that in such cases the administration can only make the villagers aware about the futility of such superstitions and make them understand that such practices do not yield the desired results.

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The Madhya Pradesh Congress leader and former PWD minister Sajjan Singh Verma sparked a row on Thursday by passing a controversial remark on a woman’s minimum age for marriage. Verma questioned, when girls can reproduce at 15 years, why raise their marriageable age from 18 to 21 years.

The comment did not go down well with the BJP who immediately demanded an apology from the Congress leader. But Congress tried to let the matter go with state Congress spokesman Bhupendra Gupta claiming the BJP wanted to make an issue out of nothing.

Verma’s comment came after Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan, while inaugurating Samman — a fortnight-long public awareness drive about crimes against women, called for raising the minimum age of marriage from 18 to 21. Women are currently allowed to get married at the age of 18, three years earlier than the 21-year minimum age limit for men. The Chief Minister had said that the minimum age for women should also be made 21 years.

Arguing that women are able to reproduce at the age of 15 years, Verma said this is not his finding. As per doctors’ report, girls are suitable for child bearing at 15 years of age. Owing to it only, a girl is considered mature enough for marriage at minimum 18 years of age, he added.

Referring to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Verma said is he a scientist or a great doctor that he is batting for increasing the minimum marriageable age for girls from 18 years to 21 years?. To which, BJP spokesperson Rahul Kothari said Sajjan Singh Verma has insulted all the daughters not only in Madhya Pradesh, but across the country.

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Meanwhile, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has issued notice to Verma on the matter and asked him to provide an explanation within two days giving reasons and justifying his intention for making such discriminatory statements against minor girls and law.

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