At least 10 persons have been arrested for torturing an old woman last week for allegedly practising witchcraft in Mayurbhanj district.
Those arrested are from Jodapokhari village, where the crime took place on July 27, said Additional District Superintendent of Police GC Mallick. Some of the arrested are close relatives of the woman, he added.
The 60-year-old tribal woman was beaten up and paraded naked at Jodapokhari for allegedly practising sorcery. The incident came to light when police rescued the woman, who was stripped naked and tied to a pillar.
An 18-year-old man of the same village died of malaria on July 23 in a Government hospital. His family suspected the death was caused by sorcery and refused to perform his last rites. The family asked three women, whom they suspected of practising witchcraft, to bring him back to life.
While the rituals were being performed, one of the women left the place, but the villagers caught her. They accused her of killing the young man, beat her up, stripped her and tied her naked to a pillar.
Police rescued the woman and admitted her to a hospital. later, she was shifted to the district headquarters town of Baripada. The villagers cremated the young man’s body on July 28.