JAIPUR: While the world celebrated International Women’s Day, life took a horrific turn for a 25-year-old woman in Barmer district of Rajasthan after she was thrashed by her husband through the Pachpadra town’s streets.
A tantrik (quack healer), had advised her husband to march her through the streets barefoot because she was possessed and the process would help her cleanse.
In videos that surfaced on social media, the husband can be seen chasing the woman with a slipper in his hand and thrashing her whenever she stops or slows down.
The police filed an FIR once the videos made their way online.
“The husband and the tantrik were arrested under the Rajasthan Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act, 2015. The woman is in shock and is undergoing therapy,” said Saroj Chaudhary, Station House Officer, Pachpadra.
The Rajasthan Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act, 2015 is special enactment targeted at combating ‘witch-hunting’ in the state.
As many as over 150 such cases have come up in the state in the past two years, data from the department of Women and Child Development shows.
Nisha Siddhu, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Woman said, “Even after the law came into force, the cases have not come down because there is no political will. There are temples where they talk about removing ghosts from the body but no action is taken...”