The age-old ritual gained prominence after some disabled children reportedly got partially cured after they were forcibly buried neck-deep during a solar or lunar eclipse.

'We learnt about the incident a few hours after the eclipse and rushed to the locality to meet parents of the kids who were made to undergo the inhuman ritual during the solar eclipse (5.30 a.m.-7.30 a.m.). Nobody came forward to identify or name those who participated in the ritual,' Gulbarga zilla parishad (district council) chief executive officer Anub Kumar told IANS by phone.

The district administration has decided to launch an awareness campaign against the ritual and take precautionary measures to prevent anyone resorting to such superstitions.

'We have told the families in the locality to take their polio-stricken or disabled children to the state-run hospitals in the town or district for cure or treatment and not resort to such practices,' Kumar said.