"Um grupo levou as mulheres e bateu-lhes com paus, acusando-as de praticar bruxaria", afirmou à AFP o chefe da polícia de Ranchi, Arun Kumar Singh, acrescentando que, depois do massacre, foram detidas 24 pessoas, a maioria das quais com idades entre os 45 e os 50 anos.
A crença na bruxaria e no oculto continua a ser muito comum em algumas zonas mais pobres da Índia. Em alguns casos, as mulheres são despidas com castigo, queimadas vivas ou levadas de casa e depois mortas.
Alguns estados, incluindo Jharkhand, criaram leis especiais para tentar limitar os crimes contra as pessoas acusadas de bruxaria.
jn.pt
8/8/15
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- Five women were killed by villagers in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand for allegedly practising "witchcraft" at midnight Friday, said local media Saturday.
Press Trust of India quoted police as saying a group of villagers used lathis and sharp edged weapons to kill the women in a village near the state capital Ranchi. The bodies of the victims have been recovered by police.
At least 400 women were killed for allegedly practicing witchcraft since 2001 and over 50 killed in 2013 alone in the state, one of the poorest and most backward in India, according to official estimates.
Meanwhile, the National Crime Records Bureau in Delhi said about 2,100 women were killed between 2000 and 2012 across India for alleged witchcraft.
Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
8/8/15
Villagers in a rural part of eastern India have killed five women whom they accused of practising witchcraft, police said Saturday...
ReplyDeletePolice in eastern Jharkhand state said a group of assailants dragged the women out of their huts and beat them to death at around midnight Friday in their village, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from state capital Ranchi.
"A group (of villagers) dragged the women out and beat them to death with sticks, accusing them of practising witchcraft," Ranchi deputy police chief Arun Kumar Singh told AFP by phone.
Singh added that 24 villagers have been arrested over the killings of the women, who were mostly aged between 45 and 50.
Belief in witchcraft and the occult remains widespread in some impoverished areas of India.
In some cases women are stripped naked as punishment, burnt alive or driven from their homes and killed.
Some states including Jharkhand have introduced special laws to try to curb crimes against people accused of witchcraft.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das condemned the latest killings in a statement on Saturday, urging society to "ponder over it".
"In the age of knowledge, this incident is sorrowful".
AFP
ahram.org.eg