Kusma Khatun, 50, of Godar VDC-8, was banished from her home last Thursday by the relatives of her neighbor Rojitani Khatun, 60, who died recently. Rojitani´s family members dragged Rojitani´s body to Kusma´s house and Rojitani´s relatives and villagers mistreated Kusma and chased her away from the village, according to the victim´s daughter Ruksan. [break]
"An elderly woman of that house had died," said Ruksan pointing at Rojitani´s house located in the neighborhood. "Suddenly, the deceased´s daughter-in-law dragged the dead body to our compound and in no time all people of the locality arrived and beat up my mother," added.
Raj Kumar Yadav, a local, said Kusma had moved from Saghara village located in southern Dhanusha to Godar VDC-8 just three months ago.
"As soon as one person said she (Kusma) was a witch, all villagers including children and elderly, kicked and punched her," Yadav said.
The villagers took Kusma away from the village, shaved her hair, blackened her face and fed her human feces, said Manju Devi, another local.
Police were still unaware of the incident till Tuesday.
A police post is located just three kilometers from the village at Birendrabazaar another one at Portaha is four kilometers from the village.
"We haven´t heard about the incident," said DSP Tak Bahadur Gurung. "After receiving information from you today [Tuesday], we are deploying a police team to the village," he added.
Kusma´s family members have not been able to search for her as villagers have threatened to banish those who go to look after her, her daughter-in-law Majida said.
Majida added that despite witnessing her mother-in-law beaten up and fed with excreta, she could not go to police for fear of villagers.
Kusma´s all three sons are working abroad.
Rojitani´s family members, on the other hand, accused that Kusma has continued to trouble them even after being banisned from the village. "She is still keeping a close eye on us from wherever she is and is creating problems in our family," said Hasina, Rojitani´s daughter-in-law.
She also said that the family has so far spent Rs 10,000 to neutralize Kusma´s witchcraft powers.
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