|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Saturday, 25 October 2003 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Three Indian villagers commit suicide after public beating over witchcraft PATNA, India, Friday (AFP) Three Indian villagers accused of practicing black magic killed themselves after being humiliated by a mob that forced them to eat human excrement, police said Friday. Villagers in Kamalpura, in the eastern state of Bihar some 150 kilometers (95 miles) south of the provincial capital Patna, had accused a man, his wife and their daughter-in-law of causing the death of a relative by casting spells, police officer Satyendra Singh said. The mob repeatedly beat the three in public, once shaving off the hair of the two women and forcing all of them to eat feces, Singh said. Humiliated, Sricharan Mahato, his wife Kari Devi and daughter-in-law Siya Devi drank poison Thursday and died, the police officer said. "They could not bear the continuous torture and finally lost the will to live," Runni Kumari, a relative of the three, was quoted saying by police. Singh said police were looking for a man who orchestrated the beating of the family. Superstition and attacks on suspected witches are widespread in Bihar, a state of 83 million people that is India's poorest. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
