It has emerged that five women have been beaten to death after being accused of witchcraft in India. The killings took place in a rural area in the state of Jharkhand where attacks on women are common. In a typical Dark Age mindset, women are often blamed for casting a curse over crops and causing illness or misfortune.
The women were beaten by dozens of people after being dragged out of their homes. They were also hit with sticks and iron rods according to police. The attack was a culmination of locals blaming the women for a string of misfortunes that had fallen on the village. This included the death of an infant earlier in the week.
Police have arrested 50 people in connection with the attack and have officers at the scene to prevent further violence. Police said the attackers packed the victims’ bodies in sacks and discarded them outside the village boundary, according to witnesses.
Chief Minister of the state Raghubar Das said: “In the age of knowledge, this incident is sorrowful. Society should ponder over it.”
From 2000 to 2012, around 2,100 people, mostly women, were killed in India on suspicion of practising witchcraft, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.