LUCKNOW
A resident of Khajikheda
village in Kanpur’s Unnao district, Radha was paraded naked in full
public view in October 2005. Villagers, including her family members,
had termed Radha a ‘chudail’ who ‘eats’ newly-born baby boys
including her own. The truth is, she had lost all four of her children
soon after their birth more than a year has passed, but Radha’s
ordeals are far from over. “My family has deserted me, “she says.
JHARKHAND
Two women
and a man of the same family were hacked to death by their neighbours
earlier this year in a village in Ranchi district after they were charged
with practising witchcraft.
According
to unofficial records, at least 100 Cases of witch hunting occur here
every year. However, according to official figures, only 200 cases have
been registered since November 2000 when Jharkhand was created.
GUJARAT
A year
ago, Kesha, Rumali and Sangha were declared ‘dakan’ (witches) in
Gamla village of Gujarat’s Dahod district. They were tonsured and
paraded around the village before they were forced to leave. They were
branded witches after a 12-year-old boy in the village died and the
disease could not be diagnosed. While nobody knows the real truth, the
‘badva’ or village witch doctor claimed the women were evil spirit’s
in human form”
ASSAM
Last year,
45-year old Donsi Brahma of Udalguri in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous
District was ostracised by the villagers before her own kin killed her.
The villagers took her to be a witch and accused her of eating a one-year-old
child after the death of his father. Her pleas fell on deaf ears.
Unofficial
reports say about 15 people were killed in Baksa district alone in the
last one-and-a-half years.
BENGAL
Recently,
Tara Mardi of Majlishpur village in South Dinajpur district was branded
a witch by a local ‘janguru’ (witch doctor) and blamed for the prolonged
illness of another villager. He prescribed that the witch must be killed
and her blood must be buried under earth for the sick man to recover.
Thankfully, while the villagers were assembling to put an end to Tara,the
police got wind of their plan and rescued her.
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