Six arrested for beating four of a family on suspicion of witchcraft in Jharkhand 

RANCHI:  Four members of a family, including three women, were allegedly tortured on suspicion of practising witchcraft at Dumka in Jharkhand through Saturday night. The incident came to light on Sunday when police personnel reached the spot after receiving a tip-off that the victims were beaten with hot iron rods and forced to consume human excreta. Six persons have been arrested in the case.

Rasi Murmu (55), Sonamuni Tuddu (47), Shrifal Murmu (27) and Koso Tudu, belonging to the same family, were seriously injured during the incident. Two of them were referred to Deoghar for better treatment after their condition started deteriorating.

According to the police, the four were first called witches and thrashed by some villagers, who later filled faeces in a bottle and forced them to consume it. However, the assailants were not satisfied by this, and burnt parts of their body with hot iron rods, the villagers told the police.

“We received a tip-off about the incident at Afsari village on Sunday and a police party was rushed to the spot. After reaching there, it was found that four members of the same family were thrashed brutally on charges of witchcraft. Their charges have been prima facie found to be true. They were then admitted to the community health centre at Sarayyahat,” Vinay Kumar, officer in-charge of Sarryahat police station, said. Doctors then referred Sonamuni and her son Shrifal to a hospital in Deoghar, he added.

The victims were also threatened by the assailants that they would have to face dire consequences if they tried to report the matter to the police. According to one of the victims, the incident took place after one Jyotin Murmu of the same village thatched a conspiracy against them. He, however, said he does not know why they were labeled as witches.

An FIR under Sections 448/ 341/ 323/ 325/ 326A/ 307/ 504/ 506/ 34 of the IPC, along with Section 3/ 4 of Witchcraft Prohibition Act has been lodged against six named accused persons and some other unknown persons at Sarryyahat Police Station. “All the six named accused have been arrested and further action is being taken against them,” said Kumar.