India woman beaten to death on suspicion of witchcraft: police

India woman beaten to death on
suspicion of witchcraft: police
July 22, 2014 at 12:51 pm in News
Villagers in a rural part of eastern India have beaten to
death a woman whom they accused of being a witch,
police said Tuesday.
The woman’s husband said 14 villagers carried out the
attack on Saturday in Bihar, one of India’s most
underdeveloped states, according to a local officer.
“The woman was beaten to death by her co-villagers for
allegedly practicing witchcraft,” said Sudhir Kumar Singh,
police superintendent of East Champaran district where
the attack took place.
He said the villagers had gathered to settle a land
dispute with the woman’s family when they instead
attacked her after accusing her of bringing illness and
bad luck on the village through witchcraft.
She later died of her injuries in hospital.
“It seems that it was a case of a land dispute and the
woman was made a victim to take revenge (over the
dispute). Police are still probing into it,” Singh said.
“But to date no arrests have taken place because all the
named accused absconded after the incident,” he said.
Women are sometimes accused of being witches to
settle disputes or grievances in remote and rural areas
that remain deeply superstitious.
In some cases women are stripped naked as
punishment, burnt or driven from their homes and killed.
In March this year a couple were beaten to death by their
neighbours for allegedly practicing witchcraft in a village
in Gaya district of Bihar. Three people were arrested.