Hazaribag, Jul 21(PTI) A sixty-year-old widow was assaulted by a group of villagers in Jharkhand’s Hazaribag district for allegedly practising witchcraft, police said on Monday.
One person has been arrested in this regard on Monday after an FIR was lodged against seven people by the victim on Sunday, a police officer said.
All the accused have been identified and a hunt was on to apprehend the remaining six others, who were absconding, the police officer said.
The villagers called an ‘ojha’ (witch doctor) from nearby Koderma district, who branded the woman as a ‘witch’ and asked them to oust her from the village on Friday evening.
The ojha had allegedly forced the woman to consume some herbs and forced her to admit she was practising witchcraft.
In the FIR lodged by the victim at Barhi police station on Sunday night, she accused the villagers of shaving her head and parading her in the village.
Feeling humiliated over the action of the accused, the woman went to the Barhi police station and lodged an FIR.
She told police that by ousting her from the village, some of the villagers, whom she named in the FIR, were trying to grab her property.
Ajit Kumar Vimal, SDPO Barhi, told reporters that one person has been arrested and the others are absconding.
“We are investigating the case”, he said, adding that the guilty persons will not be spared.
Police are conducting raids to apprehend the accused persons, the SDPO added. PTI COR BS RG
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.