On December 7, however, everything changed for the worse. Jugmani was stripped naked in front of the entire village for allegedly practicing witchcraft. It all started with the death of one Darbari Chaudhary on November 14.
“Darbari´s son Balaram and his wife came to my house after completion of the two-week mourning rituals and accused me of practicing witchcraft. They reasoned that I missed the mourning feast because I had killed Darbari,” an emotional Jugmani said in Kathmandu during a public hearing on women victimized on charge of witchcraft organized by Sancharika Samuha, Care Nepal and Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO) on Tuesday.
Jugmani´s husband has been working in New Delhi, India, for the past several years. She called her husband in Delhi and he decided to come to her rescue.
“Balaram knew that my husband was coming and hatched a plot to attack me before his arrival. Balaram then came with his wife to my house and started beating me. His wife tore my blouse and stripped me naked, while the villagers stood by as mere spectators. “When my mother-in-law tried to save me Balaram thrashed her with a cane. They were preparing to feed me human excreta,” she reminisces.
When Mayaram returned home, he went to the Area Police Office, Pahalwanpur to lodge a complaint. But the police team, which visited after a couple of days asked to solve the case locally. Balaram asked for forgiveness and got away with it. “My husband and I were not willing to sign the agreement papers but the villagers advised me to do so as I would have to live alone in the village after my husband returned India,” she said.
Like five other women from across the country, who also related similar stories during the program, she has been traumatized for life while the offenders walked scot free.
Spokesperson for the Supreme Court Srikanta Poudel, who was also present during the program, said there isn´t any law to address the issue. He urged the government to formulate fresh laws so that perpetrators of such crime are brought to justice.
Similarly, spokesperson for Nepal Police DIG Bigyan Raj Sharma said the organization will start training its personnel to handle such cases. He also urged the non-government organizations to inform the headquarters if the local police didn´t entertain such cases.
All this assurance and promise, including those from Minister of Women Children and Social Welfare Surya Dev Prasad Ojha, however, didn´t seem to assuage the fear of the victims.
The six victims and many more unreported ones across the country, which minister Ojha conceded may even be 6,000, would continue to live in fear unless the government formulates a fresh law to address the issue.
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