Jaipur, Nov. 11 -- A nine-month-old baby in Rajasthan's Bhilwara died on Sunday after his mother allegedly branded a cross on his abdomen to treat his pneumonia as per a local custom, said police. Bhilwara Sadar station house officer, Kailash Bishnoi said, "The incident occured on Thursday. The child was suffering from pneumonia for the last two or three days following which his mother branded a cross on his abdomen with a hot iron for treatment but it caused an infection." "When his health deteriorated, his parents rushed him to a local hospital in a serious condition. Doctors immediately put him on ventilation. Yet, he couldn't survive," added the SHO. According to senior police officers aware of the matter, the mother belongs to the tribal Bagdi commuity. "They have been practising this custom for a long time.It involves the branding of a cross with hot iron on childrens' body when they fall sick," a senior police officer said. "When we visited the victim's village, we found almost every single person had a similar tattoo on their body. Many times, they get a healer to make this tattoo but sometimes parents also do it themselves," added the officer. Following the development, police lodged an FIR against the 30-year-old mother, Koeli Devi Bagadi under section 75 of JJ Act and 106 (1) of BNS, officers aware of the matter told reporters. Meanwhile, commenting on the development, Koeli Devi, said, "He was my only child. He was not well and I wanted to treat him. I don't know what went wrong. I lost my child." Bishnoi said, "She did it due to lack of education and awareness in the area. Now, she is in tremendous shock. We are providing her counseling. Necessary action will be taken accordingly." Various academic studies have highlighted the prevalence of hot-iron branding as a treatment for various ailments, commonly musculoskeletal pain, in various tribal communities based across the Indian subcontinent. According to a study published in April 2020 in the "Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care", the prevalance of hot-iron branding has decreased in recent years due to the improvement of primary healthcare facilities at the rural level....