Pat Dollard

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Sky News: A spiritual man told the villagers the assaults would protect them from evil spirits, police said.

The alleged attacks happened at a forest in a poor district of Chhattisgarh state, 250 miles from the capital Raipur.

Dozens of women are killed every year on suspicion of being witches or witch doctors in India.

Superstition is widespread, especially in rural areas that lack an effective schooling system.

While there are few killings in Chhattisgarh, more than 100 women are tortured, paraded naked or harassed in the state annually, officials said.
“Police have begun a probe and interrogated dozens of villagers who hosted a nine-day purification ceremony,” Radheshyam Nayak, a senior state police officer said.

They forcibly cut the hair of about 50 women, branding them witches and also beat them up publicly.

The state passed a Witchcraft (Prevention) Act in 2005 to counter a rise in witch hunts.

Offenders face jail terms of up to five years but many cases are still reported.

Chhattisgarh’s Chief Minister Raman Singh called the latest assault “inhuman, unfortunate and shameful”.

He has asked the state’s police chief to investigate the case, a statement said.