Himachal HC seeks status report on woman's assault over witchcraft suspicion

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Monday directed the state government to file a status report in case related to the assault of an elderly woman on the suspicion of practising witchcraft in Mandi district.

Taking up a suo moto Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition on reports published in various newspapers on Sunday and Monday, a division bench of the HC comprising Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy and Justice Jyotsna Rewal Dua directed the government to file the status report by the next date of hearing on November 18.

An 81-year-old woman was allegedly paraded on November 6 in her Samahal village under Gahar Panchayat in Sarkaghat sub-division after blackening her face and garlanding her with shoes on the suspicion that she practised sorcery.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Monday, state Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore condemned the incident and alleged that the law and order situation in the state was becoming bad to worse.

Twenty-one people were arrested in connection with the incident on Saturday and Sunday after the video of the incident went viral on social media and came to Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur's notice, prompting him to direct police to register an FIR.