In a recent case of violence against women, a woman in her fifties was severely beaten up on the charge of practising witchcraft.
Fifty-year-old Chhatiyadevi Sahani of Ekdarwa village in Lakhanpur VDC was thrashed by her own kin and neighbour Nirgun Sahani and his family. They accused her of practising black magic and causing the death of Nirgun Sahani’s three-day-old grandchild.
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Nepal has been rated and ranked 157th out of 187 countries in terms of human development, according to the UNDP’s 2013 Human Development Index Report.
It has reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on reducing maternal mortality, but it is also on track to achieve gender equality in education. There is a huge hurdle for women to fight against violence and social injustice, where accusations of witchcraft are rife.
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The National Women’s Rights Forum today demanded a separate and stringent anti-witchcraft law to deal with gender-based violence at a time when many women across the country are facing physical and mental torture on the charge of practising witchcraft.
The forum demanded an effective law to punish the perpetrators. Renuka Malla Thakuri, president of the forum, expressed concern about incidents of violence against women taking place across the country.
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A man and a woman found guilty of cutting up a six-year-old girl for muti before killing her were sentenced to life in prison by the Nelspruit Circuit of the Pretoria High Court on Friday.
Stella Sibongile Zulu (25) and Sifiso Wonder Vilakazi (49), from Masibekela near Komatipoort, were convicted of murder and abduction, a Sapa correspondent reported. The court found that they killed Dimakatso Shabangu, who went missing on April 21, 2009. Her body was found floating in a river four days later.
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The Tata community near Ijoun in Yewa North Local Government area of Ogun State, South-west Nigeria, was on Monday thrown into mourning when people suspected to be ritualists beheaded a nine-year old girl, Taiwo Ajibode.
Mr. Sola Ajibode, his wife, Mrs. Abosede Ajibode and their three children, Taiwo, Kehinde and Bukola Ajibode were on a visit to their aged grandmother, Madam Ashande Ase when the incident happened.
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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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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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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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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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