Story By: Angjela Trajkovska, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This is the shocking ritual where babies and young children are branded like cattle with a red hot iron rod to cure stomachaches.

The bizarre ritual known as ‘Chidi Daag’ takes place in the district of Jamshedpur in the state of Jharkhand in India.

The ritual is reportedly done on the second day of Makar Sankranti, a festival day in the Hindu calendar, when the women from rural parts take their kids to an experienced priest to cure them of stomachaches for the rest of their lives.

But the children end up in terrible pain as the priest needs to press a hot iron to their stomach as a part of the ritual. 

Picture Credits: AsiaWire

Before the hot iron rod is pressed on the child’s stomach an oil is placed on a skin around the navel. 

The video shows three different kids, among whom a crying child, subjected to the ritual as villagers hold them not to move.

A resident, named only as Surbhi, said that the ritual’s purpose is to cure the children’s pain in the abdomen, adding that the ritual lasts for many years. 

A practitioner of ‘Chidi Daag’, identified as Raja Ram, said that the ritual can be done on a child which is 21 days old to adults, adding that the oil is initially offered to gods and then used in the treatment. In the images, one of the children even appears to be a baby.

He said he practices the ritual for 40 years to cure the pain in the stomach.

India is reportedly considered to be a country with weird rituals and scary practices.