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65-year-old woman killed after being branded ‘witch’ in Jharkhand: Cops
Police said 22-year-old Manoj Bilung allegedly killed Ashrita Bilung with sticks after branding her a witch on Friday, a day before his wedding at Sarkhutoli village under Pakartand police station, around 140km from capital Ranchi.
A 65-year-old woman suspected of practising witchcraft was beaten to death by a man in Jharkhand’s Simedga district, days after a report by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said the state recorded the highest number of such killings in India in 2018.
Police said 22-year-old Manoj Bilung allegedly killed Ashrita Bilung with sticks after branding her a witch on Friday, a day before his wedding at Sarkhutoli village under Pakartand police station, around 140km from capital Ranchi.
“Suspecting Ashrita of practising black magic, Manoj went to her house in the village on Friday midnight and beat her to death. This is what Manoj said during interrogation,” Pakartand police station in-charge Hiralal Mahto said.
Mahto said Manoj was arrested on Saturday and sent to jail on Sunday.
Despite a drop in witch-hunt murder cases in Jharkhand, annual figures released by NCRB last Wednesday show the tribal state witnessed the highest number of such killings in the country in 2018 at 18.
The country witnessed 63 such murders in 2018. Madhya Pradesh recorded 10 witch-hunt murders, Andhra Pradesh nine, Chhattisgarh eight and Odisha saw five such killings in 2018, as per NCRB.
An analysis of NCRB’s data since 2001 shows 560 women were lynched in Jharkhand after being branded witches between 2001 and 2018. The state saw the highest or 54 witch-hunting murders in 2013, 52 in 2008 and 50 in 2007.
Jharkhand has seen a decline in such killings since 2014 when 47 women were lynched, which dropped to 32 in 2015, 27 in 2016, 19 in 2017 and 18 in 2018.
Four people in their 60s, including two women, were killed in July last year after around a dozen angry villagers dragged them out of their houses and attacked them with sticks and sharp weapons while accusing them of practising witchcraft at Siskari village in Gumla district.
Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are the worst affected states of the social evil. Hundreds of women have been persecuted, tortured and killed after being branded as witches in the past few decades in these four states.
