Taking suo motu cognizance, the Himachal Pradehs high court on Monday directed the state government to file a status report within a week in a case related to torture of an elderly woman on the suspicion of being a witch.
On an oral request by advocate Vinay Sharma, the division bench of chief justice L Narayana Swamy and justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua passed the order while treating media reports as a public interest litigation.
Twenty-one people were arrested for allegedly parading an 81-year-old woman in her village after blackening her face and garlanding her with shoes on the suspicion that she practised sorcery. The incident took place in Samahal village under Gahar Panchayat in Sarkaghat sub-division.
The bench directed the authorities to provide medical facility and police protection to the victim and her family.
Sharma contended that victim was undergoing a trauma after the incident and perpetrators may also harm her or her family.
The bench listed the matter for next hearing on November 18.