Mother & daughter tonsured and forced to eat faeces
NATIONAL | February 17, 2018: In a shocking incident, two women were forced to eat faeces and were tonsured in a Ranchi village for practicing 'witchcraft', once again bringing to fore the superstitious practice prevalent in rural Jharkhand.
The incident took place in Dulmi village under Sonahatu police station, around 56km from the state Ranchi, on Thursday.
Karo Devi (65) and her daughter Basanti Devi (35) registered their complaints on Friday, alleging that their relatives dragged them out of their house, forced them to eat faeces and tonsured them after accusing them of practicing witchcraft.
Police said they have arrested all 11 accused.
Amardeep, Sonahatu police station in-charge who goes by one name, said, "FIR has been lodged against 11 people and all of them were arrested."
Basanti recounting the horror said, "Around 10am on Thursday, some 10-12 people, most of them our relatives, dragged us out of the house. They smeared human excreta on our bodies and forced us to eat faecal matter and drink urine".
She added, "Thereafter, we were taken to Subernarekha River from the village where they tonsured our heads and forced us to wear white saree. We were allowed to go home around 2pm".
The victims said the villagers labeled the two as witches and blamed them for illness of three persons in the village.
Sonahatu police officials said as per the statement of the victims, three persons, identified as Malti Devi, Akshay and Bijay, had fallen ill and fainted on Wednesday.
Instead of seeing a doctor, the family members took them to a local occultist for treatment, who accused Karo and Basanti Devi of practicing witchcraft and being responsible for their ill health.
The occult suggested social shaming of the two women, police said.
The mother and daughter did not dare to go to police station on Thursday fearing repercussion from villagers. They went to Karo's maternal house in Ichagarh and narrated entire story to them. The family helped them to lodge a case on Friday.
Source: Hindustan Times
Featured image (courtesy): Hindustan Times
