A woman was allegedly stripped and brutally assaulted in public by villagers of Banitia in Odisha’s Bhadrak district on suspicion of practising witchcraft, police said on Thursday.
“Six people, including two women, have been named in the case. No one has been arrested so far. The woman was being taken to hospital in an auto-rickshaw with the help of the local sarpanch when some villagers stopped the vehicle, dragged her out and assaulted her again. Police later reached the village, rescued her and admitted her to the Bhadrak District Headquarters Hospital. The proposed policy seeks stronger preventive measures, immediate rescue of victims and faster legal proceedings in witch-hunting cases, particularly in rural and tribal areas.
The incident took place on September 25, but the woman lodged a complaint on Wednesday, following which police registered a case against six people, including two women. Three days ago, a 41-year-old man from Gajapati district was allegedly beaten to death by villagers and his body burnt after being taken from his home over suspicion that he practised witchcraft. The incident comes amid the Odisha government’s move to frame the State Policy for Witch-Hunting (Prevention, Protection and Prosecution), 2026.
We are searching for those named in the complaint,” Bhadrak Rural police station inspector-in-charge Subrat Das said.
