5 women killed for practising witchcraft in J''khand, 24 held

Ranchi, August 8 

Five women were beaten to death here early on Saturday for allegedly practising witchcraft, the police said. The incident took place at Kanjiya Maraitoli village, Mandar block, around 40 km from Ranchi.

“Five women were beaten to death with sticks and rods by villagers, mostly the youth. The women were picked from their houses on late Friday night. The villagers alleged that they were involved in practising black magic,” a police officer said.

Senior police officers have reached the village. The bodies of the five women, who were from different families, have been sent for post-mortem.

Ranchi deputy police chief Arun Kumar Singh told AFP by phone that 24 villagers had been arrested over the killings of the women, who were mostly aged between 45 and 50.

More than 750 women have been killed over the years in Jharkhand after being branded as “witches”.

Jharkhand accounted for 54 of the 160 cases of murders where women were branded “witches” and killed in 2013 and 400 women have been murdered with the same motive since 2001 in the state. — Agencies