Indian Society is a male-dominated society for decades. In the modern 21st century, any body may find stories of female torturing from the indian villages. Children die of Malaria and Jaundice and two widows of the village get the severe punishment for the death. Beating women because of practicing witchcraft is an old phenomenon.
Megha has written a wonderful post here on the issue of making women as culprit of all these kinds of incidents happens in village or remote areas. The concept of ojhas, dians, is still being practicing in several states. The status of ojhas are much superior than any other authority in respective villages. Women do become soft targets in these incidents.
Megha writes as,most of the time if not all the time, the Ojha’s palms are greased for branding a woman a witch. The reasons could often be disputes over land, jealous relatives, revenge for refusing a man’s advances or just a shoddy excuse to inflict violence on the woman.
But a woman can also be used as a scapegoat for problems plaguing the village like sickness, famine, a failed harvest, a corrupt, sexist panchayat (surprise, surprise) and on and on.
