Posts by whrin_admin

India: ‘Witch’ beaten to death to wake up woman

A middle-aged woman was beaten to death by her neighbouring family who believed she  had cast a spell on one of their members. The deceased, who was sleeping in her house at the time of the incident, was dragged by the suspect out and beaten to death.

According to the police, her neighbour’s sister-in-law suddenly fell unconscious and when he tried waking her up, she began uttering the name of the deceased woman. The suspect believed the deceased woman was the cause for his sister-in-law’s ill health and rushed into her house and dragged out the sleeping woman yelling at her to cure the unconscious relative.

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India: Woman Killed By Relatives After Being Deemed A Witch

In many areas of India, witch hunting is not just a dark practice from the past, but an ongoing problem. Villagers in rural areas frequently target women in their societies and accuse them of witchcraft, often resulting from competition for land.

“In Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha and in Purulia in West Bengal, the struggle for tribal land is intense within the community. These are mineral-rich lands so mining companies are encroaching these places, leading to dearth of land. Adivasi [tribal] women who inherit land from their fathers or husbands are often targeted. Envious family members start the accusations against the women to discredit them, leading to loss of inheritance.”

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Mexico: ‘Witchcraft’

This National Geographic video discusses the prevalence of witchcraft in Mexico, with practitioners of witchcraft employing their skills for both beneficial and sinister uses.

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Nepal: Gender-based violence still rampant in country

Speakers at a public hearing in Kathmandu raised the issue of how women have been continuously subjected to gender-based violence and how many a woman are still being accused of practicing witchcraft. 

Addressing the event ‘Commitment to Reduce Gender-Based Violence’ in the run-up to the 104th International Women’s Day (marked on March 8) organised by Sancharika Samuha, Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam said, “I will order the concerned bodies to show commitment to resolve the problem and implement the policies.” The progamme was organised to draw the government’s attention to sufferings of women all across the country. 

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UAE: Couple nabbed in Sharjah for practicing witchcraft and forcing women into vice

Sharjah Police has arrested an Arab man and woman for practicing witchcraft and sorcery and for luring young women into prostitution.

Police said the two used to bring girls from abroad into the UAE under the pretext of getting jobs for them and then force them under threat into the vice trade.

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Ghana: ‘Ghana Witches’

This National Geographic video invites the viewer to travel to Gnani, a village in northern Ghana and home to a group of women accused of practicing black magic. Banished from their homes and shunned by their families, these former witches must live out the rest of their days in exile.

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South Africa: Muti killing accused acquitted

One of the three people accused of killing a six-year-old girl and taking her body parts for muti was acquitted on Wednesday.

Thabile Mnisi, 33, from Masibekela near Komatipoort, was acquitted of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the Nelspruit circuit of the High Court in Pretoria, a Sapa correspondent reported.

“There is not enough evidence… You are free to go,” Judge Collin Lamont said.

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South Africa: Shocking revelations made during muti murder trail

The shocking revelation of how a six-year-old girl’s tongue, heart and intestines were cut out of her while she was still alive was revealed when a muti murder trial resumed.

The accused, Ms Thabile Mnisi (29), Ms Stella Sibongile Mnisi (46) and Mr Sifiso Wonder Vilakazi (21), appeared on charges of murder, kidnapping and the business proposition of selling children for their body parts on Monday. They are accused of the brutal murder and mutilation of Dimaksu Shabangu.

Despite the state stating that it had had a witness seeing Thabile take the child to the river, Lamot had discharged her as he said the state did not have enough evidence against her.

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Russia: Police Stop Witch-Burning in Siberia

In an unexpected incident worthy of the Spanish inquisition, a couple in eastern Siberia decided their acquaintance was a witch and attempted to burn her alive, though police stopped the impromptu auto-da-fe.

The rescue came not a moment too soon, as the couple were at that moment forcing the alleged witch headfirst into a burning stove in an abandoned building, Zabaikalsky Region police said Thursday.

The 46-year-old victim was hospitalized with severe burns to her face and hands, police said in a statement.

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India: Woman branded witch, mercilessly killed in Chhattisgarh

Yet another woman was killed under suspicion of being a ‘tonhi’- woman involved in witchcraft practices — in Uparwara village of Naya Raipur on Wednesday. 

Police have arrested four persons, all of whom are woman’s immediate relatives. It’s a case similar to one of Balrampur where a woman was killed by her neighbours when their kin was suffering from prolonged disease. 

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