Indian police have charged 80 people for burying children alive in an ancient Hindu ceremony known as "the festival of pits."
The ceremony, in which children -- some less than a year old -- are buried alive briefly and then dug up, happened on Monday in southern Tamil Nadu state, The Asian Age reported on Thursday.
Every two years, parents who have vowed to bury their first-born if they are blessed with a child, take part in the Kuzhimattru Thiru Vizha ceremony.
The children are drugged to make them unconscious and placed in shallow "graves" in temple courtyards.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/14/india.burials.reut/index.html
The ceremony, in which children -- some less than a year old -- are buried alive briefly and then dug up, happened on Monday in southern Tamil Nadu state, The Asian Age reported on Thursday.
Every two years, parents who have vowed to bury their first-born if they are blessed with a child, take part in the Kuzhimattru Thiru Vizha ceremony.
The children are drugged to make them unconscious and placed in shallow "graves" in temple courtyards.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/14/india.burials.reut/index.html