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Village 'witches' beaten in India
Tue, 2009-10-20 22:03
#1
scott
Village 'witches' beaten in India
Wed, 2009-10-21 22:02
#2
That's so 16th century. Someone would have to be incredibly ignorant to really believe in witches today; it's as stupid as believing in vampires or werewolves. So what's really going on is that someone covets another's land and uses this as an excuse to get it. No different than framing someone for a crime and buying the land at reduced price at state auction.
Thu, 2009-10-22 21:36
#3
scott
Village 'witches' beaten in India
Five women were paraded naked, beaten and forced to eat human excrement by villagers after being branded as witches in India's Jharkhand state.Local police said the victims were Muslim widows who had been labelled as witches by a local cleric.
...
Correspondents say the abuse of women who are branded as witches is common, but rare footage of the incident has caused outrage across India.
...
Experts say superstitious beliefs are behind some of these attacks, but there are occasions when people - especially widows - are targeted for their land and property.
The "land and property" connection is interesting because the Salem witches were also disproportionately property owning widows.