Bihar: Declared a witch and exposed violence against women, human waste

    Bihar: Declared a witch and exposed violence against women, human waste 

"We ran a lot to escape from the villagers, but they caught us. Beat all night. Blouse torn. He tore his sari and climbed on his chest and put human waste in his mouth and took it to the garden in the morning and cut his hair.

It is said that a video of Sadmiya Devi (pseudonym) went viral a few days ago in which some people were seen torturing and inhumanely treating her.

Sadmia, 55, is currently receiving treatment in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, from where she spoke  on the phone and explained what had happened to her.

What is the background of the case?

News of Sadmia's abuse surfaced when a video that went viral on the evening of May 4 showed people torturing three women, cutting their hair and forcibly putting human waste in their mouths.

In this video, the affected women sometimes tried to avoid these people and sometimes looked disappointed and hopeless.

Apparently, it is a case of inhumane treatment of these women by calling them 'witches' and the affected family is about to lose their livelihood and also earn their living by working as laborers.

According to journalist Setu Tiwari, Sadmia Devi's 36-year-old son is a witness to the incident like other villagers. He works in Haryana but is currently at home due to lockdown.

"On the morning of May 3, Sadmiya Devi's two sisters came to the village," he told by phone. One of the sisters felt that she was possessed by a ghost whom she had come to the village to exorcise.

According to him, on the night of May 3, the three women and a male relative of Sadmiya Devi, Ramji Kumar (pseudonym) who sings hymns to exorcise ghosts, went to the local railway line to perform the exorcism. Began to recite mantras for

Sadmia's son said, "Mother, aunt and father were worshiping. At about ten o'clock, 25 members of the village's Phalwari gang came and took them all away." They kept him in a house all night, beat him, tore his clothes and took him to the garden at nine o'clock on the morning of May 4. There they were beaten, had their hair cut and human waste dumped.

In this case, besides three women, Ramji Kumar was also beaten and given waste and he is also undergoing treatment in Muzaffarpur.

Helpers were threatened and chased away

Sadmia's son said: "Some people tried to save the mother but she was threatened and chased away. When I got there, I was also scolded and threatened to stay away. There were so many people, what I did alone, watching in silence.

According to him, the villagers released Sadmiya Devi, her sisters and Ramji after torturing them and feeding them human waste. They returned home but continued vomiting throughout the day. When the video went viral in the evening, local police filed an initial complaint based on it and then launched an operation.

"I don't know why they did that to us," he said. Without a fight, they called my mother a witch and fed her. I want them to be severely punished. "

Nine people arrested

Muzaffarpur SSP Jayant Kant told  that nine of the 15 accused in the case had been arrested and raids were being carried out to nab the remaining accused.

According to him, ten people have been identified on the basis of viral video.

Meanwhile, Sadmiya Devi's son is not satisfied with the police action. "The police have also arrested my nephew in the case, which is completely wrong," he said.

The families of the accused could not be reached for comment.

Violence against women in the name of witchcraft

It should be noted that in many states in India, including Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Orissa, violence against women by calling them witches or witches is common and usually targets poor, vulnerable and widowed or single women.

These measures are also taken for the acquisition of property, sexual rights of women or other reasons.

In Bihar, a law was enacted in 1999 to stop the abuse of women in the name of witchcraft, but such incidents continue to occur even today.