Mohona, Mar 7: Superstition related to branding of children to cure them of common ailments refuses to stop in Gajapati district. Several children were branded with the hot iron rod by a village quack in Akhadasahi village under R Udayagiri block.

Reports said, as per the rituals on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, the family members took their children to the house of a quack who branded them with hot iron to cure their stomach pain and other ailments. 

Branding as a traditional healing practice is intrinsically ingrained in the locality and illiterate people are also infected by it. It is believed that a traditional healer protects a child from evil eyes by branding him or her.