WEB DESK: Pregnant woman has lost her life after enduring severe physical abuse for five consecutive days.
On Monday, a pregnant woman was brutally tortured in five days in Khuda Bakhsh Hasbani village near Yamkani Sharif town. Authorities have detained key suspects. However, there is still a formal case to be filed against them۔
Thirty year old victim, Sangeeta Kolhi, was handed over by her husband Bresh Kolhi to Bacho Kolhi and Harsen Kolhi, known as Bhupa (Witch Doctor) in the local language.
They belived that an evil spirit had taken hold of her. The two bhopas performed what they asserted was the necessary ritual for the ‘possessed’ woman in a temple located directly across from the victim’s home.
On Sunday night, after five days and nights of brutal treatment, Sangita’s family revealed that she ultimately succumbed to the violence. The “procedure” she was subjected to involved extreme forms of abuse, including being dragged by her hair and being beaten with fists and sticks.
Upon hearing her cries for help, family members and neighbours hurried to the temple. However, the bhopas remained unyielding until someone alerted the police, who swiftly arrived and apprehended them on site.
The victim’s father Vishram, brother Ashok, and mother said that Sangita was in sound health before the ordeal. They said they had come from Jhuddo to meet her, but the Bhopas did not allow them to interact. They claimed that it would disturb the ‘exorcism’, and told her family they could see her in the morning.
Neighbours told the media they had been hearing Sangita’s screams for five consecutive nights and could not sleep. They claimed she was possessed by a spirit and the bhopas were trying to rid her of it.
The victim’s body was taken to Tando Bago hospital for post-mortem before it was handed over to her family, who returned with it to their village, Chang Mori, in Jhuddo.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Paras Ali Memon of the Pangrio police station said that police reached the crime scene after receiving information, took the body into custody and arrested the two suspects.
SHO Manzoor Nahriyo said a post-mortem had been conducted and a case would be registered after the family came forward to lodge a formal complaint.
