Twenty one persons have been booked for brutally assaulting and stripping three men over witchcraft allegations in Raipur three months ago.
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered on June 9 following a lower court order. It documents that the trio were held captive by the mob that thrashed them, paraded semi-naked and robbed them of their money and other belongings in the Abhanpur area of Raipur district on March 13. It also notes that despite being aware of the incident, the police refused to file an FIR initially forcing the victims to seek judicial intervention.
The three victims Naresh Kumar Sahu, Amar Singh Sahu and his son Tilak Sahu were allegedly hit with bamboo sticks and belts.
According to the FIR, after parading them semi naked in the village, they were made to sit naked in a square and were beaten with shoes, slippers and sticks throughout the night. “In the meanwhile, the applicants fainted many times, so they were brought back to consciousness by giving them water and they were beaten again and again. They rubbed red chilli powder on the places from where blood was oozing out. When the applicants screamed in pain, non-applicants no. 1 to 16 laughed and made fun of them,” the FIR adds.
