BHOPAL: A spine-chilling incident of a middle-aged widow being stripped, held by her hair and beaten mercilessly by relatives and neighbours over suspicion that she had been practising witchcraft and black magic has been reported from Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.
The incident happened in Mandavi village under Manawar police station area of Dhar district on October 5. But it became known only after the shocking video of the stripped widow being held by the hair and beaten by men in full public view went viral on Thursday.
According to the Dhar district police superintendent Aditya Pratap Singh, four men (all relatives and neighbours of the widow) have been booked under IPC sections, including 307 and 354. Three of them have been arrested. Those booked and arrested are accused of torturing the woman, outraging her modesty, attempting to kill her and filming the entire savagery.
The primary probe has revealed that a woman in the house of the accused was ill for long.
Suspecting the widow (who is their relative as well as neighbour) was practising witchcraft and black magic, the men brought her out in public view, before stripping her and torturing her beyond imagination. The men blamed the woman's "evil eye" for the ill health of their female family member.
In the video, the accused can be heard abusing the stripped widow, holding her by the hair and beating her.
While such incidents are regularly being reported from parts of tribal MP, in this case, the victim and the accused hail from the OBC Mankar caste.
"Attempts are being made to educate and enlighten the villagers against superstitions, but still such incidents are happening. We're ensuring prompt and punitive action in all such cases," the Dhar SP said.