A 50-year-old woman from Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh district was allegedly taken from her home by a group of seven people, subjected to occult rituals, tortured, disrobed and dumped nearly seven kilometres away in a marketplace over suspicion that she is a “daayan” (witch).
Her son, a migrant worker in Bihar, told The Indian Express, “They shaved her hair, cut her in multiple places with blades to ‘extract blood’, screamed incantations, and threatened to kill her. They took Rs 20,000 from our house and later called me demanding Rs 1 lakh, threatening they would otherwise kill her and dump her body.”
Police have identified five men and two women, aged between 40 and 55, as accused. One of them is an “ojha” or tantric practitioner, who was brought from Koderma district to perform the rituals.
The accusations of witchcraft, her son said, had been simmering for months. “It started with small things. A buffalo died. Someone fell sick. Then, when a man in the village died, fingers were pointed at my mother. They said she was responsible,” he said.
Following the death, a local panchayat was held. “They didn’t inform me, even though I am her guardian ever since I lost my father in 2007. Still, no one told me that a village council was happening to discuss allegations against my mother,” he said.
The village mukhiya (head) and other community leaders, according to the family, made no effort to stop the accusations. Instead, her son alleged, they allowed vigilante justice to unfold in the name of tradition.
Around 10 pm on July 18, seven people entered their home. The woman’s daughter-in-law was threatened with death if she raised an alarm.
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The perpetrators allegedly performed a series of rituals and assaulted the woman inside the house. “They cut her under her eyes, on her chest, navel, finger, and toe. They even talked about pulling out her tongue,” her son alleged.
At 3 am on July 19, she was taken to a hill in Gaya, Bihar. “There, they forced her to scream, saying if she didn’t, they would beat her publicly in the village,” her son alleged.
She was later dropped at a marketplace 7 km away from her home, around 10 pm on July 19, nearly 24 hours after her abduction.
She returned home walking through the forest, reaching by midnight.
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After she returned home, her son took her to the local government hospital around 2 pm on July 20. “The hospital later referred her to Hazaribagh for further treatment,” he said.
He claimed the accused are trying to settle the case through the mukhiya.
Abhas Kumar, the SHO of Barhi police station, said that as of now, one accused, Shambhu Yadav, has been arrested while the rest, including the tantric, are absconding. “Everyone else has gone underground. We are conducting raids. The matter is serious and concerning. Last night, too, we conducted a raid to search for the other perpetrators but couldn’t find them,” he said.
Kumar stated that they have not received any information regarding pressure from villagers to withdraw the case.
