In three-part’s documentation, ‘Witchs’ of JharkhandVishukant Tiwari and Athar asked to explain why women were continued to be label as ‘witches’ and harassed, tortured, and even murdered in Jharkhand.
In the first part, he noticed in the 2015 case, how, in the dead of the night, a drunken mob of villagers dragged at least five women from her homes in Kanjia Maritoli village in Ranchi district of Jharkhand, suspected as ‘witches’. Five victims were tortured, snatched naked, and beaten to death. On its face, it appears that such allegations are still thrown because people are superstitious. But there is a lot below the surface.
In August 1995, Chhatni Mahato was convinced that her in -laws and villagers of Madamdih village in Saraikela Kharsavan district of Jharkhand kill her if she does not run away. His fear was not baseless. Eventually, a ‘witch’ was branded by the village panchayat. In the night intervening on August 4-5, 1995, Chhutni took two of his young children and managed to escape. Today, this witchcraft survivor has turned into a savior for women who faced similar allegations, even blame the government for not enough to end this superstitious practice. In the second part of the series, journalists again saw the story of Chhutni after nearly three decades.
In June 2022, Holo Devi was made a brand of a ‘witch’ and was killed by family members of her husband’s first wife in Ganeshpur village in Lohardaga district of Jharkhand. The Region? Property dispute. In her late fifties, a tribal woman, Holo Devi, was brutally thrown, forced to drink pesticides, and eventually pushed a rock, killing her. In the third part of the series, journalists re -considered their story through their son and daughter -in -law’s accounts.
The ceremony for the Ramnath Goenka Award for excellence in Journalism 2023 was held in Delhi on Wednesday, 19 March.
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