An elderly woman in Beladevipur-8, Kailali district, has became the victim of yet another incident of excess over supposed witchcraft. A group of locals including Nira Rana and Ram Singh Rana accused Raj Kumari Rana, 65, of practicing witchcraft and mercilessly beat her up after stripping her and forcing her to eat human feces.

Crossing all limits of ill treatment, Raj Kumari´s neighbors also forcefully inserted a stick into her private parts as well as shaving off her hair. Nira and Ram Singh were helped by 30-35 other locals of the village in tormenting the woman.

A group barged into Raj Kumari´s home on Friday morning when she was still asleep. They dragged her outside and forcibly stripped her, shaved off her hair and forced her to eat human faces before thrashing her nearly to death.

“I was sleeping at home when they made a surprise appearance and dragged me out to the yard, where they tore off all my clothes, poured human faces over my body and forced me to eat it. They also jabbed a stick in my private parts,” Raj Kumari mumbled in pain.

In the assault, Raj Kumari´s upper jaw got broken, her mouth and eyes were swollen and there were bruises across her body. According to Raj Kumari´s son Dal Bahadur, he could not save her as Nira and Ram Singh were assisted by others of the village.

“I was forced to watch the whole episode helplessly as the villagers threatened to beat me up along with my mother,” said Dal Bahadur.

According to family members, this is not the first time Raj Kumari has faced mistreatment by the locals. She was subjected to similar mistreatment by locals two years ago. However, the family did not bring the incident to public notice, fearing social exclusion. “They mistreated my mother in the same way two years ago. They are just repeating the inhumane torture. We remain deprived of justice,” Dal Bahadur lamented.

Nira admitted that she was involved in beating up and mistreating Ram Kumari. She was of the opinion that Raj Kumari had killed her (Nira´s) son through witchcraft and also made her sick. Nira further clamed it was only god´s will that she punish Raj Kumari.

In yet another incident, Nira and Ram Kumari Rana thrased another elderly woman, Bandi Rana, 65, of the same village on Friday, again on the charge of practicing witchcraft.

Police have initiated investigations after the incident came to light. Superintendent of Police in Kailali district, Ghana Shyam Aryal, informed that Nira and Ram Kumari were arrested, but Ram Singh, the other accused, was still at large.

Source: Republica