Vijay Cheruvu, right, listens to his lawyer Brant Stonger speak to the media about a lawsuit filed against Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple in Sugar Land, Texas, after Cheruvu’s son was allegedly branded during a ceremony last year. (KHOU/YouTube)
A father in Texas is suing a Hindu church after his 11-year-old son was branded on each shoulder during a religious ritual.
It happened on Aug. 3 at the Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple in Sugar Land, near Houston, according to the father’s attorney Brant Stogner. The father, Vijay Cheruvu, and his ex-wife split custody with the boy, identified as TC in the lawsuit.
“He goes to see therapists. He’s deeply scarred,” Cheruvu said of his son in a press conference on Wednesday.
TC’s mother, Supriya Raman Sripada, had custody of the boy when the alleged incident happened. Stonger said the ceremony involved about 100 people, including TC and two other children. The participants were burned with a branding iron, Stonger said. TC reportedly still has scars from the incident and developed an infection.
“The point of we’re making with this lawsuit is we want to make sure, obviously that Vijay and his son TC get justice for the third-degree burns and permanent scars that he has, but we wanted to shine a light on this whole situation so that no other child finds himself or herself in a scenario where they’re being branded on both shoulders,” Stonger said.
Cheruvu said his son initially did not mention anything to him about what happened. But the pain became too much.
“He started crying,” he said. “Then he came out and told me the whole story, and I’m like you kept this hidden this long. This is so traumatic. I was traumatized. I couldn’t do anything to protect my son.”
Stonger said TC had no idea what would happen during the ceremony. Even if he did, it’s illegal in Texas for children to consent to being branded or tattooed, the attorney said.
This type of ceremony is not widely used among Hindu people and only done among a “small sect” of the religion, according to Stonger.
Cheruvu was livid when he found out what happened.
“I was shocked. I didn’t know how to handle it. My primary concern is for my son’s well-being,” Cheruvu said.
The lawsuit, filed in Fort Bend County District Court, seeks $1 million and names the temple and its parent company, Jet USA.
Cops charged TC’s mother with child abuse. However, the case was dropped.
A representative from the temple described the ceremony to KRIV as a “ritual,” but declined further comment. Cheruvu, also Hindu, says neither he nor anyone he knows partakes in the ritual. Meanwhile, his son is trying to overcome much more than just his physical scars.
“It’s deep trauma,” he said. “He doesn’t trust any adults anymore. He doesn’t want to be around many people. Out of the blue, once in a while, he’ll say why did this happen to me? Why didn’t anybody stop this?”
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