A 65-year-old woman and her daughter were branded as witches by their relatives. They were allegedly forced to consume human excreta and drink toilet. This followed by shaving their heads near the bank of Subernarekha river. This shameful event was reported from Dulmi village of Sonahatu block, around 60km from state capital, Ranchi.
The woman, Karo Devi and her daughter Basanti Devi went to Sonahatu police station to lodge their complaint. They named 11 people in their complaint. As per the police statement, all 11 people were arrested by the evening.
According to Karo Devi and her daughter, a group of 10-12 people, including most of her relatives came to her house on Thursday morning. They took them outside and forced them to eat excreta and drink toilet. Then, they took them to the cremation ground on the banks of Subernarekha, and their heads were tonsured. After this, they were asked to take bath in the river to ‘wash their sins’.
The woman and her daughter were tortured from the past one year. On the Wednesday night, three people were very ill in her neighbour. So, they called a black magician (Ojha) from Tang Tang village. This person after performing some black magic, labelled both women as witches. He is held responsible for manipulating the minds of villagers, according to some people.
Police and administration took immediate steps in arresting all the accused persons in the case and an investigation is still in progress. Also the women and her daughter are said to get security from police.
The chief minister of Jharkhand, Raghubar Das had tweeted on this incident, saying this to be shameful incident.
Are we living in the society where superstitions are given so much importance. Should we kill our women by just branding them as witches.