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By India Today News Desk: Two minor children in Odisha’s Balasore district were married to stray dogs in order to ‘ward off evil spirits’. While an 11-year-old boy, Tapan Sing (son of Dari Sing) was married to a female dog, seven-year-old Laxmi (daughter of Butu) was married to a male dog, keeping with a local superstition that this would ward off evil spirits.
The Sings are Ho tribals from Bandhsahi village in Soro block. Their search for a dog to wed their children came after the kids developed their first teeth on the upper jaw. Tribals believed that the emergence of the first tooth on the upper jaw of a baby is inauspicious.
“According to community traditions, the two ‘marriages’ were performed and the rituals continued from 7 am till 1 pm along with a community feast,” Sagar Sing, a 28-year-old graduate from the village, told PTI.
“The community believes that the evil which may happen will pass to the dogs once the ‘marriage’ is solemnised … this, of course, has no scientific basis but continues to be a superstition passed on by elders,” he added.
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