Ranchi: In an eye cramping incident, the residents of Mahesh Litti village in Dumka district of Jharkhand, branded a 50-year-old woman as a witch and stripped her in public. Accusing her of witchcraft, the villagers forced her to parade naked on the streets on Sunday evening.

According to the reports, a 50-year-old man Sonalal Kishku had gone to attend a political rally at Dhumka on Sunday morning but while returning he was found dead on his bus seat. He died of physical ailments but the villagers alleged that Kishku died of witchcraft.

After branding the deceased’s elder brother’s wife as a witch, a group of villagers thrashed the woman, her daughter and her daughter-in-law.

Tribal woman stripped, gang-raped by nearly 18 men in Jharkhand’s Dumka

“An FIR was registered under the relevant sections of the IPC and Prevention of Witch-hunting (Dayan Pratha) Act 2001, against seven accused, including Manoj Kisku, as per the statement of the victim. We are identifying the other accused in the case. They will be arrested soon,” said Kumar.

As per police records, Dumka saw 11 witch hunt murders in 2014, along with one incident each in 2016 and 2017. Kalyani Sharan, chairperson of the state women’s commission said that superstition and lack of education resulted in such incidents, mostly in impoverished regions of the state.

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