Nepal Mob Burns Woman to Death
A mob in Nepal set on fire a 40-year-old mother on Friday for allegedly using witchcraft to make her relative sick. The attack occurred in the Chitwan district located about 50 miles southwest of Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital.
Police arrested 10 people in suspicion of the killing, including five women, two shamans, and an 8-year-old boy, CNN reports.
“Those arrested have confessed to their crime and will be charged with murder,” police officer Hira Mani Baral said.
Dhegani Mahato began experiencing torture from nine people after a local shaman accused her of the death of a boy, who had drowned in a river a year ago. Officer Baral said Mahato had just finished cleaning a cowshed in the early morning on the day of the attack.
According to a local police report, the 9-year-old daughter witnessed her mother being beaten with rocks and sticks before being set afire.
“They poured kerosene and threw straw over her and then set fire to her. No one came to her rescue. By the time we heard about it, she had already died,” Gopal Bhandari, a superintendent of police in Chitwan district, told AFP.
Neighbors of Mahato were refusing to let police take her body away for examination.
The communities are said to practice strict patriarchal lines. Furthermore, hundreds of Nepalese women from the lower-caste are suspected of suffering abuse from “witch hunters” every year. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has requested the villagers not to seek help from shamans and faith healers.
Human rights campaigners are outraged by how rarely the perpetrators are brought to justice.
