AGRA: A 10-year-old boy from Itarni village in Hathras district died after being bitten by a snake on Diwali night, and his grieving family kept his body under neem leaves and cow dung cakes for three days in a desperate attempt to revive him. Police confirmed the incident, according to Times of India
Kapil Jatav, a Class 4 student at the village government school, was bitten by a snake at home late on October 20. He was immediately taken to a local government hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Unable to accept the loss, the family initially sought help from local tantriks in Mathura, who claimed they could perform rituals to bring him back to life.When the rituals in Mathura did not work, the family returned to the village.
In a final act of desperation, they covered Kapil’s body with layers of neem leaves and cow dung cakes and placed it outside the village. Villagers, following the family’s instructions, conducted rituals and continuously tapped the boy’s legs with a tree branch for three days, hoping for any sign of life.
“It was a desperate attempt to revive our son. We just couldn’t accept that he was gone,” said Narender Jatav, Kapil’s father, who works as a daily wage labourer.
Kapil had three siblings, and his sudden death has left the family devastated.
The situation came to the attention of the police only on Thursday night, after three days of rituals. Authorities immediately reached the village and took custody of the boy’s body, which was sent for a postmortem.
The autopsy was conducted on Friday, following which the body was cremated, confirmed Narender Jatav.Hasayan SHO Girishchandra Gautam said that no formal complaint had been lodged regarding the incident, but an investigation into the circumstances was underway.
Local villagers expressed a mix of grief and bewilderment over the incident, highlighting the deep-rooted beliefs in superstition that continue to influence responses to tragic events in rural areas.The incident has once again drawn attention to the need for awareness and timely medical intervention in snakebite cases, which remain a significant cause of mortality in many parts of rural India.
