Patna: A widow in Bihar was beaten up and her leg fractured by local villagers on the suspicion of being a “witch” in the latest incident related to superstition. The incident took place at Kurmuri village in Sheikhpura district on Thursday.
Reports said the woman had gone to the village to distribute wedding cards among the local villagers requesting them to attend the marriage function of her daughter. However, some villagers beat her up as they had ‘exiled’ the woman from the village a year ago over witchcraft allegations and banned her from entering the village. In fact, she had moved to the house of her relative at a nearby village after the incident.
On Thursday, she reached her village to invite villagers for her daughter’s wedding function, hoping the old enmity may have ended. But her expectations proved wrong.
The police have registered a case against five villagers and raids are on to arrest the absconding accused persons. “We will initiate tough actions against the accused,” the local district superintendent of police Daya Shankar told the media Friday.
Attacks on women over witchcraft allegations remain a matter of serious concern in the twin states of Bihar and Jharkhand. Last month, an old widow was gang-raped by a group of villagers for being “witch” in Jharkhand’s Khunti district.
In February, two women were tortured and made to consume human excreta on suspicion of being “witches” in Jharkhand’s Ranchi district. The victims identified as Karo Devi, 65, and her daughter Basanti Devi, 35, were dragged out of their homes and were branded as witches by a village court. Their heads were also shaved as a punishment.
In Bihar, a woman was beaten up and forced to dance for being “witch”. The incident took place at Madarichak village in central Bihar’s Sheikhpura district in May 2015.
