The Witches of India
Across Rajasthan, mentally ill, widowed, infertile or old women are declared witches and subjected to brutal forms of torture.
In Nimera a small village, 25 kilometres from the capital, Vimla Devi, 39, was preparing for bed one night when she heard loud bangs on her door. Her heart sank.
It was 9 p.m., everyone else in the village had already settled down for the night.
Piercing the calm were shouts of men wielding 'lathis' (sticks) and trying to break down Vimla's door: "We will kill this woman today," they shouted.
As many as 200 women are lynched every year in India after being accused of practising witchcraft, a study by a charity has found.
The deaths are most prevalent in poverty-stricken villages populated by tribal groups in the northern Indian state of Jharkhand, with cases also reported in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Orissa.
Avdhash Kaushal, chairman of the Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra, said that most victims were single or widowed and were often targeted for their land or money.
They are often forced to drink urine or eat excreta in public and are then paraded naked through the village. An estimated 200 are killed each year, with many more committing suicide afterwards out of shame.
Inside the house, Vimla and her two children shuddered with fear.
A child in the village had fallen seriously ill, and the men believed Vimla to be the cause. Fortunately for her, more enlightened people of the village intervened and suggested that instead of targeting the poor woman the child be taken to a doctor.
The next day Vimla's husband, Nemi Chand, a daily wager, went to the nearest police outpost to lodge a complaint, the fourth in the last seven years. A few days later, delegates from the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) came down to Nimera and forced the police to take action.
From: http://www.asafeworldforwomen.org/en/wr-india/339-the-witches-of-india.html
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