They Are Destined To Be Burnt Poem by Rajib Baskey

Silence reigned the entire village;
Only the sounds of boots, shrill cry of a child shuddered in its mother's lap.
Old men and women, mother and children found shrunk out of fear.
Hush! dont speak, dont ask anybody what has happened.
The police asked him, frightened him,
but no answer, 'coz its prohibited.
No one knows what happened!
Yesterday she was beaten and killed.
A child died.
The child was ill for somedays, the Ojhas could not do magic spell, the doctors failed because she has eaten the child;
She's poor, lives in a small hut; wears shabby saree, half naked, ate him at night.
The village Majhi called some Ojhas, they came and the verdict was such, that old shabby women ate the child.
They could not wait till the order,
appeared withrods, bamboos, cut branches.
No, she could not give the fine of 1lakh! she was killed and burnt inside
her small hut....
Don't be ashamed, don't be surprised, its a custom, a practice...yes, yes, it's external.
Thousands of thousands years ago it began and didn't stop, no one could stop this, 'coz it's custom!
Let them burnt, let them killed.
They are poor, shabby, illiterate;
God made them to be burnt., they are destined to be burnt!