A demonic incident has occurred in India’s Jharkhand state, where a woman and her 10-month-old breastfeeding infant were burned alive after being accused of being a witch. Police have arrested four people on charges of this brutal murder. The woman’s husband, severely burnt in the attack, is currently groaning in a hospital bed.
Police said they are looking for several more suspects. The detainees are currently being interrogated, but they have not opened their mouths yet. Statistics show that between 2000 and 2016, more than two and a half thousand people were killed in India on suspicion of witchcraft, most of whom were women.
Before the aftermath of the incident of burning five members of the same family to death in neighboring Bihar could fade, the murder of Jyoti Sinku and her infant child took place in the remote Kudsai village of Jharkhand. This tribal village, 250 kilometers away from the capital Ranchi, has only 50 mud houses. It is believed that such incidents are happening mainly due to superstition and a lack of medical services. Rumors of practicing witchcraft were spread against Jyoti Sinku centering on the death of cattle in the village and the sudden illness of a man named Pustun Birua.
Pustun Birua’s wife, Jano Birua, said that when her husband fell ill, she went to a local quack doctor. The doctor told her that he had no physical disease. When asked the reason for not taking him to the hospital, she said, “We are poor people, it was not possible to take him so far.”
The situation became heated after Pustun Birua died on Tuesday evening. At night, a group of 12 people, including five women, attacked Jyoti’s house and burned the mother and infant child alive. Jyoti’s husband, Kolahan Sinku, who is undergoing treatment at the hospital, said that he repeatedly entreated the attackers to settle the matter through a village arbitration. But they did not pay heed to his words and set fire to his wife and child before his eyes.
Following this tragic murder, police filed a case of murder and conspiracy based on the statements of Kolahan and another family member. Already four people have been arrested and a special team has been formed to find the rest. Police said that they will soon undertake various programs to remove superstition and increase awareness in these tribal areas.