Two more cases of hot iron branding on newborn babies were reported from Duajhar village under Khariar block of Nuapada district on Thursday.
The one-and-a-half-month-old baby girls are twins who were born in at the Khariar Community Health Centre (CHC).
Doctors of the CHC reveal that the twins with their mother stayed for about a week under intensive care in the newborn care unit of the CHC after their delivery and were healthy while returning home.
There are uncountable numbers of branding marks on the bellies of the babies.
They look very healthy even now.
“The parents of the twins are very poor and superstitious. They said that they were forced to take the kids to a quack when they stopped sucking from mother’s breast and cried continuously,” said the local Anganwadi Worker (AWW).
“The superstition of Kalachhir (branding) is deep-rooted in the minds of the people here.
We regularly discuss with them during our door-to-door visits, but they don't understand,” rued the AWW.