RAIPUR: Even as Chhattisgarh witnessed around 1,500 incidents and 210 deaths of women assaulted for practices witchcraft in last few years, three women wait for justice after suffering assault , paraded naked , tonsured and forced to consume urine over similar accusations 13 years ago at Gariyaband's Lachkhera region.

The women Teerath Bai, Shyama and Bisahin Bai had hit national headlines in October 2001 after they underwent torture by more than 20 persons and sustained grievous injuries.

A case was registered against 20 persons then of which two are already dead, while the three women still await justice, the women who were in state capital said. They narrated the story about how they were forced to hold live electric wire to prove they were not 'witches' and were dragged by hair on streets before tonsuring them.

Taking cognizance of atrocities, a city based doctor fighting against blackmagic and superstition has approached state government and plans to step up pressure demanding to put such cases in fast-track court. "Humiliation for these women doesn't end with lodging an FIR, they are kicked out of family and village, forced to spend life in isolation. In most cases, the women die waiting for justice or see the accused die his own death. I will launch a campaign to get these cases to fast-track courts so the pained women get justice in time," Dr Dinesh Mishra of Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti — an NGO said.

He added that he has approached related government departments and would take the matter to chief minister as life was too harsh on the three poor women.

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State has many such women with their lurking weathered eyes spending life in isolation and boycotted from village. When things go wrong in a village or family — an illness or death, bad crops, an accident — villagers can be easily persuaded to blame some vulnerable member of the community who is usually childless, widow or lonely women.

In last six months, state witnessed about two dozen cases of women atrocities with death of eight women. Going by records at state commission for women, Raipur topped the list with 10 cases last year while Balrampur, Rajnandgaon, Raigarh, Janjgir — Champa and Koriya were other affected districts with frequent cases.

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According to a district court lawyer, hundreds of cases go unreported that occur in interiors of remote villages while the conviction rate was too low to 40 per cent since introduction of Chhattisgarh Witchcraft Atrocities (Prevention) Act 2005, with most of the cases await final hearing.

Dr Mishra is an ophthalmologist, but he has been working against superstition for last 20 years to bring science and education to the rural areas of Chhattisgarh. Most cases of witch-hunting he comes across are prompted by illnesses and diseases, he said.