Woman, daughter branded as 'witches', paraded tonsured

RANCHI: A woman and her daughter were branded as 'witches' by their family and allegedly forced to eat human excreta at Dulmi village in Sonahatu area, about 70km from the state capital, on Thursday. The victims were allegedly beaten up by their relatives before they were tonsured and paraded through the village.
Even though the incident took place on Thursday, a police complaint was filed on Friday. The victims - Kari Devi (60) and Basanti Devi (35) - told the police that their relatives blamed them for their misfortunes and accused them of practicing 'witchcraft'.

Malti Devi, one of the accused who lived in Ranchi, said that she used to get sick whenever she came to the village. On Thursday, she and her son Vijay had fallen unconscious when they visited the village. She suspected the mother-daughter duo of practicing 'witchcraft' on their family. Matters took a turn for worse when they summoned a ojha (witch doctor), Mishran Puran, who too blamed Kari and Basanti for their ailments. The relatives present there too accused the victims for their illnesses and assaulted them.

Police have lodged an FIR and arrested 11 people, including nine members of the family and Mishran. Bundu sub-divisional police officer KV Raman said, "All of the accused have confessed to their crime."

According to the NCRB data published in December last year, as many as 183 women were killed in the state over the past four years in reported cases of lynching in the guise of 'witchcraft'. Jharkhand also topped the chart of witch-hunting murders in the country in 2016.