Superstition claims baby girl in UP

In a shocking act reflective of the writ of superstition, a one-and-half-year-old baby girl suffering from TB (Tuberculosis) was killed after her mother, on the advice of an exorcist, cut her body at various places with a razor blade before cutting her own hands to ''mix'' their blood in order to ''cure'' her.

The incident occurred at Tajpur village in Uttar Pradesh's Baharaich district, about 200 km from here.

According to police sources here, the little girl, who suffered severe injuries, died of excessive bleeding. The killer mother was arrested.

Sources said that the woman, whose husband worked at a brick kiln in the same district, had consulted an exorcist to cure her daughter, whose treatment by the nearby doctors, mainly quacks, failed to have any effect.

Exorcist's advice

The exorcist suggested that the girl could be cured if her blood was ''mixed'' with the blood of the mother.

The woman cut the baby at several places with a razor blade and then cut herself before ''mixing'' their blood on Sunday.

The police, who reached the spot after being informed by the locals, arrested the woman and sent the body of the girl for postmortem examination. ''The woman has admitted to cutting her daughter...she believed that her daughter would be cured if she did so,'' said a district police official in Baharaich.