Rajasthan: Dalit woman branded witch, beaten up, stripped, made to eat faeces in Ajmer

A 40-year-old Dalit woman was allegedly branded a witch, stripped, beaten up mercilessly and made to eat faecal matter in Rajasthan's Ajmer district.

Kanya Devi died on August 3, a day after the alleged assault by her relatives in Kadera village of Ajmer. She was forced to walk on embers which were shoved into her eyes that blinded her. The woman was mercilessly beaten up with hot iron rods.

The horrific incident took place while the woman and her 15-year-old son were sleeping inside the house. The accused dragged Kanya out of the house by her hair and forced her to eat faeces and drink sewer water. Therafter, she was whiplashed with hot iron rods and forced into walking on a bed of embers which were then shoved into her eyes.

After the woman died of the torture, the local panchayat allegedly tried to hush up the matter as it asked the accused to take a dip in the Pushkar waters and arrange fodder for cows to absolve themselves of their sins. The five members of the panchayat committee that issued the diktat have gone missing.

ARRESTS MADE SO FAR

Out of the six accused, the police has so far arrested five people in the case, including three men and two women. Those among the accused include Kanya's nephew Mahaveer, her niece Pinky and neighbour Sonia.

The other accused in the case have been idenitified as Gopi and Chandraprakash. Mahaveer is the main accused in the case, who, alongwith his sister, Pinky, hatched the conspiracy to torture Kanya which eventually led to her death.

"We have arrested five people out of the six who were accused in the matter. She was beaten up on August 2. No one came forward then, the matter did not get reported at that time. We are enquiring into the matter. If there are any lapses, we will take action.", said Rajendra Singh, SP, Ajmer, while speaking to India Today.

The accused have been booked under the Rajasthan Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2015 and Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

WOMEN BRANDED AS WITCHES TO USURP PROPERTIES

Tara Alhuwalia, a social activist, tracking the case, told India Today, "There is a property angle to this case. The victim's husband died last month. She has a minor son. Mahaveer, who is the main accused in the case, had hatched the entire conspiracy alongwith his sister Pinky to torture Kanya Devi in this manner. We have demanded that five member committee of the panchayat that was involved in trying to absolve the accused of their crime be made co - accused in the case. They had allowed the accused to get away by merely putting a fine of Rs 2500 on Pinky and Sonia and asking the accused to arrange fodder for cows."

There have been numerous cases of women bring tortured, beaten up and even killed in Rajasthan after being branded as witches.

In many of these cases, there has allegedly been a sinister angle of trying to usurp property behind the garb of the claim that a witch has entered inside the woman's body.

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