India - Villagers in tribal central India have allegedly beaten 50 women with sticks and cut off their hair after accusing them of witchcraft. A spiritual man told the villagers the assaults would protect them from evil spirits, police said.
The alleged attacks happened at a forest in a poor district of Chhattisgarh state, 250 miles from the capital Raipur. Dozens of women are killed every year on suspicion of being witches or witch doctors in India. A spiritual man told the villagers the assaults would protect them from evil spirits, police said.
The alleged attacks happened at a forest in a poor district of Chhattisgarh state, 250 miles from the capital Raipur.
Dozens of women are killed every year on suspicion of being witches or witch doctors in India.
Superstition is widespread, especially in rural areas that lack an effective schooling system.
While there are few killings in Chhattisgarh, more than 100 women are tortured, paraded naked or harassed in the state annually, officials said.
"Police have begun a probe and interrogated dozens of villagers who hosted a nine-day purification ceremony," Radheshyam Nayak, a senior state police officer said.
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