Thapa was ostracized after one Sarita Bajracharya, a shaman, accused the 58-year-old Thapa for all the illness and misery in the neighborhood for the past two months.[break] "The neighbors who were on good terms with me have also started to detest me," Thapa said in her complaint lodged at the Area Police Office, Butwal, on Saturday.
Thapa, who has been renting a room in Devinagar for the past three months, had been practising exorcism through one Ruma Rana. "Rana had apparently mimicked me and told that I had taught witchcraft to her daughter and daughter-in-law. I came to know about that only after my neighbors started keeping a distance from me," said Thapa. She had migrated from her ancestral home in Marbhung, Gulmi and has been living on rent in Devinagar for the past eight years
A few locals are now taking initiative to resolve the issue at the local level after Thapa went to the police. "No one protested when they ostracized me and now that I have gone to the police they are talking about co-existence," Thapa fumed.
Thapa, whose husband Rajan and two sons work in the Indian Army, had also informed Devinagar Police Post about the accusations in the past. Thapa said police had warned the locals to not unnecessarily put stress on her but Rana and Bajracharya continued to defame her.
Inspector at the Area Police Office, Butwal, Rameshwar Karki confirmed that Thapa has lodged a complaint. "The guilty will be punished as per the law," inspector Karki said. A person can be fined anything from Rs 5,000-15,000 and/or jailed for three months to two years for accusing others of witchcraft.
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