Seven-year-old pupil Murdered in school’s ritual sacrifice

Five people were arrested in India for the killing of a seven-year-old boy in an alleged ritual sacrifice aimed at bringing good fortune to a public school, police said on Friday.

The victim was found dead in his bed on Sunday night at the hostel where he lived in the city of Hathras, not far from the country’s famed Taj Mahal.

Instead of alerting the authorities, police reported that the school director, Dinesh Baghel, concealed the body in the boot of his car.

Police officer Himanshu Mathur told AFP that the boy was killed before a black magic ceremony conducted by Baghel’s father.

“The boy was meant to be taken to an altar as part of a ritual but was killed before the ceremony could be completed,” Mathur said.

Baghel and his father were arrested along with three other teachers at the school, Mathur added.

Mathur did not provide further details on how the child had
died, and local media reports stated that the body was undergoing a post-mortem examination.

India’s National Crime Records Bureau recorded 103 cases of human sacrifice in the country between 2014 and 2021.

Ritual killings are typically conducted to appease deities and are more common in tribal and remote areas, where belief in witchcraft and the occult is widespread.

Last year, police arrested five men for the 2019 murder of a 64-year-old woman, who was killed and decapitated with a machete after visiting a temple in India’s remote northeast. Police said the alleged ringleader had been performing a religious rite to mark the anniversary of his brother’s death.