Bihar Woman Allegedly Beaten to Death by Villagers on Suspicion of Witchcraft

Source: news18.com

Nawada/Bihar: A 50-year-old woman was allegedly beaten to death here on Tuesday by villagers, who accused her of practising witchcraft, police said.

The incident took place at Koyaligarh village under the Govindpur police station area, where the woman was attacked with bamboo and wooden sticks around 8 am, Station House Officer (SHO) Jyoti Punj said.

“The woman was brought to police station by her husband and other family members. Noticing her critical condition, we rushed her to a primary health centre, where doctors declared her brought dead,” he said.

An FIR has been lodged by the woman’s husband, who has named 12 residents of the village in the complaint, the SHO said, adding, that the body has been sent for post-mortem.

The woman, who had gone to fetch water in the morning, was later found lying on the ground in a pool of blood, and villagers were standing nearby and accusing her of practising witchcraft, her husband alleged in the FIR.

Four persons, named in the complaint, have been arrested and search is underway for the remaining accused, the SHO said.

The incident comes less than a week after three persons were beaten to death in Saran district on suspicion of stealing a buffalo.

Earlier in the day, opposition legislators led by former chief minister and RJD national vice president Rabri Devi staged a demonstration outside the legislative council, accusing the state

government of “failure to check violence against Dalits and Muslims”.

Left parties — the CPI and the CPI(M) — also issued statements, charging the Nitish Kumar government with failure to check mob violence.

“They Were Witches”: Jharkhand Woman, Daughter Killed Over “Black Magic”

Source: ndtv.com

NEW DELHI: A woman and her daughter were hacked to death by three men over allegations of witchcraft in the remote tribal-dominated east, police said Saturday.
The 50-year-old woman and her young daughter were beaten by their neighbours before being attacked with knives on Wednesday night in West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.

Police said the victims’ family was embroiled in a land dispute with one of the accused, who used black magic allegations as a cover-up to commit the crime.

“One of the accused told the villagers that the women were witches and responsible for deaths and diseases in the village. They attacked the women in the night and killed them brutally,” district police chief Indrajit Mahatha told AFP.

The woman’s husband filed a complaint against the accused who are on the run, he said.

More than 2,000 people — many of them women — were killed in India on suspicion of witchcraft between 2000 and 2012, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

Some states, including Jharkhand, have introduced special laws to try to curb crimes against people accused of witchcraft and superstition.

Experts say belief in witchcraft and the occult remains widespread in impoverished rural communities across India. There are also occasional reports of human sacrifices.

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Earlier this month police in northeastern Assam state said they suspected a case of human sacrifice after finding the headless body of a woman near a Hindu temple.