An eight-month-old boy was rescued from a house in Sulibele village near Hoskote on January 3 after child protection authorities received an alert about a suspected attempt at ritual sacrifice.
The rescue was carried out by members of the Child Welfare Committee, the District Child Protection Unit and Sulibele police after Childline (1098) received an anonymous call warning that an infant was in imminent danger. Acting on the tip-off, officials traced the house in Janata Colony and intervened before any harm could be caused.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the couple were not the biological parents of the child and had allegedly adopted the infant from a migrant worker couple from Kolar without following legal adoption procedures.
Inside the house, officials found a freshly dug pit along with coconuts, incense sticks and other ritual items. According to Times of India, the couple living there, who claimed to be the child’s parents, failed to give a consistent explanation for the pit or the whereabouts of the infant.
After repeated questioning, the baby was brought to the house by a person from the neighbourhood. By then, the police had arrived and the child was secured and shifted to a rehabilitation facility. The report said that as per officials, the infant is stable and has been placed under medical observation.
Both the adoptive couple and the suspected biological parents have been detained for questioning.
A case is expected to be registered under the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act, 2017, along with provisions of child protection laws. Further investigation is under way.