Siya Devi Mandal, 45, was dubbed a witch by her neighbors and thrashed brutally last November by her neighbors Shyam Prasad Mandal and his wife Rukmini Devi Mandal after the couple’s eight-year-old daughter complained of abdominal pain. [break]
Siya Devi lodged a complaint against the Mandals with Saptari Police in Rajbiraj after receiving treatment at the Sagarmatha Zonal Hospital.
“I don’t know any black magic, but I have been accused of witchcraft and thrashed repeatedly on superstitious ground,” she said, and urged media and human rights activists to take initiatives to punish offenders.
Some locals said Siya Devi’s 62-year-old mother-in-law Durgi Devi Mandal was also killed in May 2003 on the charge of witchcraft. She was mercilessly beaten after a buffalo of a neighbor Raj Dev Mandal stopped giving milk. The offenders are at large but the villagers have turned their ire on Siya Devi since the death of her mother-in-law.
Siya Devi was thrashed on the charge of practicing black magic for the first time by neighbor Sakal Dev Mandal and his relatives three yeas ago after Sakal’s son went insane. She was attacked four times the year before last and five times last year.
She has already been thrashed four times this year. Inspector with Saptari Police Bhuwaneshwar Sah claimed all offenders involved in the past 12 attacks are facing courts cases under Public Offense Act, but her husband Ram Prasad said many cases were settled locally at the village.
Ram Prasad and Siya Devi have two daughters and a son and they work as farm laborers to earn livelihood. However, the frequent attacks and the stigma associated with the accusations have made life miserable for the family.
Human rights activist Dilip Singh called for an end to impunity to curb the recent surge in attack on women on the accusation of witchcraft.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Yuva Narayan Baidya claimed that the police have initiated comprehensive investigations into such cases and that stringent action would be taken against the offenders.
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