Tonto: Four men were sent to jail on June 17 for branding a middle-aged woman, mother to two school-going children, a witch at a West Singhbhum village only 100 km from Jamshedpur.

The men were part of a group of six who had on the night of June 10 forced her to cure an ill neighbour after holding her responsible for his illness. Then, they stripped her, forced her to dance, beat her and poured urine on her head. Two of the four, now behind bars, raped her in the school where her children go to.

Deurisai, a small hamlet of 50 Ho tribal families in Serengsia (revenue village), Tonto block, West Singhbhum, has once again shamed the state and the government’s efforts at creating awareness against witch-hunt crimes, The Telegraph reported.

On Friday, June 10, the 46-year-old woman, a mother of two children, had just finished her domestic chores around 10pm, when loud banging on the door of her thatched hut startled her.

The woman, who still cannot walk properly due to the beatings and rape, recounted her ordeal to The Telegraph today at Tonto thana, said she had no idea that her life would change in an instant.

“As soon as I opened the door, two youths of Serengia village, Ashish Laguri and Bahadur Laguri, dragged me out and took me to the home of one of my neighbours Juril Laguri, some 70 metres from my home, abusing me for being a witch and making him fall ill,” she said in Ho, which her brother Deven Sinku translated in broken Hindi and Bengali.

“There, Mangal Singh Laguri, Ramesh Singh Laguri, Jinga Laguri and Mantri Laguri, who are of the same tola too, were present. All the six men asked me to cure Juril immediately by using my so-called special powers,” the woman added.

When she said she was only a housewife and mother, the angry men started grabbing and hitting her. At midnight, they told her that witches dance at this hour, so she also should. When she hesitated, they grabbed and pummelled her. Scared, she started dancing.

They stripped her and made her dance for two hours.

In tears, tired and hurting, when the woman slumped on the floor, the men poured urine on her head, screaming that it would take out evil forces that were making Juril ill.

The ordeal that started at 10pm on June 10 ended at 4am on June 11, when Mangal and Ramesh took her to the neighbouring middle school building and raped her.

“My scared children found me naked and covered me with a cloth,” said the woman whose husband works in an Adityapur factory and comes home only on Sundays. Then, she broke down.

When he came, her husband, in fact, first decided to take the case to the police, said her brother Sinku, who stays in Punsia village, 10km away.

“We arrested the accused Ashish Laguri (38), Bahadur Laguri (55), Mangal Singh Laguri (32) and Ramesh Singh Laguri (36) yesterday and forwarded them to jail today. Hunt for Jinga Laguri and Mantri Laguri is on,” said Tonto police station officiating OC and sub-inspector B. Shankar.

He added they were yet to know the real reason for which the men targeted her.

“From we could gather from villagers, this victim, under the influence of handiya, used to abuse people who crossed her house. Maybe the men had decided to settle scores. In rural parts, a woman becomes a witch based on rumours that fuel superstition. It’s easy to incite rumours,” he said.

Villagers kept mum when asked if she had a habit of drinking and abusing people.

SDO Chaibasa Rakesh Dubey termed the incident extremely unfortunate. “It is a dastardly and shameful act. I visited the village today. Basically, superstition related to witchcraft is deeply ingrained in people’s minds. I have directed the district public relations department to launch a massive awareness campaign against witchcraft,” he said.

State women’s commission chairperson Mahua Maji also said they had taken cognisance of the crime. “We have today told the DC that we will be visiting the district on June 22 and meet the victim,” chairperson Maji said.

What of Juril? He is still ill. This correspondent, noting symptoms of nausea, fever and yellowed skin, suspected Juril might have a liver ailment.