Sad! How people are killed when they turn old in Tamil Nadu villages

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Representational picture

A tradition that is followed in some of the places in south India involves killing people when they turn old. The villagers call this practice mercy killing because when a family is unable to bear the burden of an elderly, they kill them.

Thalaikkooththal is the traditional practice of senicide (killing of the elderly) or involuntary euthanasia, by their own family members, observed in some parts of southern districts of Tamil Nadu state of India.

The process typically goes as such – The elderly person is given an extensive oil-bath early in the morning and subsequently made to drink glasses of tender coconut water which results in renal failure, high fever, fits, and death within a day or two.

This technique may also involve a head massage with cold water, which may lower body temperature sufficiently to cause heart failure. Alternative methods involve force feeding cow’s milk while plugging the nose, causing breathing difficulties (the “milk therapy”) or use of poisons.

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