81-year-old woman ‘tortured’ by mob in Mandi

In the video, a group of youth is seen smearing black polish on the elderly woman’s face and garlanding her with shoes.

Accused of performing black magic, a 81-year-old woman at a village in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi district was allegedly ‘tortured’ by a group of local youth, police said.

HT Image

The incident took place in Samahal village of gram panchayat Gahar of Sarkaghat subdivision of Mandi district on Saturday. Police took cognisance after a video of the incident surfaced on social media.

In the video, a group of youth is seen smearing black polish on the elderly woman’s face and garlanding her with shoes. Few minutes later, they are witnessed forcefully dragging her in front of the local deity chariot in the village.

The group alleged that the 81-year-old widow, who resides with her elder daughter and son-in-law at Barchhwar village of the area, performed witchcraft and black magic on the people of the area. They had gathered outside her house a week ago and thrashed her windows and destroyed the belongings in her absence.

It was learnt that the woman had filed a written complaint with local gram panchayat over the issue but she was ‘pressurised’ to withdraw it by locals.

Mandi superintendent of police (SP) Gurdev Sharma said he had received information about the video following which he directed deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Sarkaghat to enquire into the matter.

No formal complaint has been lodged into the incident yet, the SP said.

“However, on the basis of the video, we have initiated investigation into the matter,” he added, saying that stringent action will be taken against the guilty.