Laxman Das and his family members meted out the inhumane treatment to Patambari Devi Das, 40, accusing her of learning ´witch magic´ and creating problems in his family. All the perpetrators including Das, his wife Rampari Devi, daughter Basamtiya Kumari and accomplices Jagdev Das, Lal Bihari Das, Govinda Das, and Ramdhari Das, against whom the victim has filed a complaint at the Area Police Office, are at large.
The villagers believe that a ´witch´ loses her power after she is fed with human excreta.
Area Police Office at Ramgopalpur stated the local leaders of UCPN-Maoist and CPN-UML have been pressurizing the police settle the case without creating much fuss about it. Police are still looking for the culprits.
Patambari Devi, who is receiving treatment at Mahottari District Hospital at Jaleshwar, said Basamtiya Kumari caught her hair and dragged her to the latter´s house at around 8 a.m. on Monday and fed her human excreta.
"They locked me in a room, stripped me semi-naked and fed excreta from a bottle," said a weeping Patambari Devi.
Ram Brikshya Yadav, a local, said her torturers took Rs 10,000 that she was carrying and also took her sari and blouse. "Something that happens nowhere in the world is happening here," said Yadav. "I had given her the money. When I went to see her after the incident, her body was covered with human excreta," he said, sobbing.
Laxman accused Patambari Devi of being responsible for the death of his one son and for making his other son mad, Laxman´s younger brother Sukan Das said.
"He had two sons. A faith-healer (Dhami) said Patambari was responsible for the death of one of his sons," said Sukan, refusing to divulge the name of the faith-healer.
There have been nine such cases in Mahottari in the past two years, according to District Police Office. Most of them were solved after the perpetrators agreed to pay minor compensation, while other cases are yet to be settled.
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