INDIA
The Australian
The Times
April 09, 2012
TERRIFIED babies screamed in shock as they were thrown 9m from a temple balcony amid a crowd of dancing worshippers in the southern Indian state last week.
The temple’s baby-throwing ritual, an annual event in which infants under two are dropped by a priest and caught in a blanket, has been denounced as “barbaric” by children’s rights groups, which have demanded an end to it.
The ceremony is believed by participants to bring good luck, prosperity and health to the children. Footage of last week’s event, filmed by an Indian news channel, showed the babies in obvious distress as they plunged towards the ground.
The priest, who was cheered by the crowd every time he dropped a child, did not appear to be paying attention to where they fell. Perched on top of the elaborate Digambeshwara temple in Nagrala village, he pulled away one frightened child who tried to grab his shirt, and then hurled him down.
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