The superstition of his parents that a dip in the Ganga could cure him of cancer cost a seven-year-old child his life here on Wednesday, police said.
The boy's parents kept chanting mantras on the banks of Har-ki Pairi while his aunt allegedly dipped him repeatedly in the Ganga ignoring his loud cries, until he suffocated and died, they added.
Bystanders tried to stop the woman but she refused to listen to them, the police said. Eyewitnesses reported the incident to the police, SHO of the Har-ki-Pairi police station Bhavna Kainthola said.
The child's parents and aunt have been held for interrogation, the SHO said. The boy was suffering from blood cancer and resided with his parents in Delhi, she said. He died of drowning, the SHO said, adding that further inquiry into the case is underway.
Haridwar city police chief Swantantra Kumar told NDTV that the boy was undergoing cancer treatment in a top Delhi hospital. The doctors had eventually given up and told them that their child could not be saved, Kumar said. "We are getting the reports from the Delhi hospital. But at this point, it appears that they brought the boy here because they believed that Ganga snan would cure him,” Kumar added.
