Chhattisgarh: Branded as ‘tonhi’, elderly woman killed for casting spells on family, four held

RAIPUR: Three days after a 65-year-old woman was killed under suspicion that she practices witchcraft and black magic, Surajpur district police have arrested four persons of the same family on charges of murder under the Chhattisgarh Witchcraft atrocities (prevention) Act, 2005 and BNS.
Among the accused are a couple and their sons identified as Pran Sai, 59, Munni Bai, 57, sons Mukesh, 18 and Mukum, 23.
The incident was reported from Savarava village in the Odgi region of Surajpur, where the family of four believed that their neighbor, 65-year-old Nanki Bai, practiced black magic and had cast spells on their family, leading to various misfortunes.
As part of their plan to kill Nanki Bai, Mukesh invited her for drinks on the night of November 14. During the conversation, Munni Bai, who was grieving the loss of another son who died by suicide four years ago, accused Nanki Bai of being responsible for his death.
High on emotions, Munni Bai accused the victim of being a ‘tonhi’ (witch) who wished bad to her family, entered into an argument with Nanki and Mukesh got up with an axe and hacked her to death. To ensure that the woman is dead, Mukum also strangled her.
All four involved in the act, took the body of Nanki to forest and hanged it to a tree to mislead police that it was a suicide. Body of Nanki was recovered by locals who informed the police on November 16 and during the investigation and based on forensic analysis, police zeroed down upon the accused family, who confessed to the crime.
Tribal and remote belts of Chhattisgarh are gripped under superstitious belief system and people often depend upon 'sorcerer' (baiga) for health treatment or relief from 'black magic'.
A doctor Dr Dinesh Mishra who had shown serious concern over such cases, fought for years to get these women justice, following which, the previous Raman Singh government introduced an Act in 2005 to book offenders under a specific law. Else, there was no on-record data available nor punishment for the heinous crime.
According to Dr Mishra, approximately over 3000 cases of harassment and murders have been reported since 2005, after branding the women and their family members indulged in witchcraft and black magic. Around 250 cases are reported every year related to witchcraft in state.
Mostly these women are loners, widows or who have been ostracized by the society and forced to live a life in isolation. They are often targeted and beaten to death by families or a village mob.
Chhattisgarh has witnessed shocking incidents when such women branded as ‘tonhi’ were marched naked on streets, were given electric shocks, chased and urinated upon, by villagers.