Jharkhand police, yesterday, arrested 27 people for hacking five tribal women to death on Saturday in Kanija village near the state capital, Ranchi.
The villagers suspected the women, aged 35 to 52, of killing a 17-year-old jaundiced youth through sorcery.
Many of these murders are linked to superstitious beliefs, but they are also due to economic reasons where people want to take the woman’s land or property.
— Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research
The women were stripped and beaten with wooden sticks, metal rods and stabbed with spears and swords.
Their faces were also defaced, apparently by stones. Almost the entire village was involved in the massacre.
— SN Pradhan, Jharkhand Police
The women’s bodies were then put into large jute bags and dumped outside the village, police said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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