HUMAN
HUManist Association of Nepal
Action/Study on Witch Identifying Rituals
HUMAN, recently conducted on-site investigation
of the so called "Witch Identifying Ritual" held on 14th August 2001 in
the district of Mahottari in which hundreds of women including Marani Devi
were humiliated and physically tortured for allegedly practicing witchcraft
in the villages. The fact finding committee of HUMAN had prepared
detail report on the case and submitted to the office of the speaker of
the parliament in Nepal and UN high Commissioner through IHEU.
HUMAN conducted on site investigation of the most grotesque event of 14 August 2001 in the Simardahi VDC of Mahottari district of Nepal where more than 2000 rural Nepalese women were tortured and inhumanly treated, several of them were seriously injured and thousands were insulted, humiliated, and abused in the name of so-called "witch identifying ritual" in a single event. Simardhai case is just one of the hundreds of cases that occur every day in rural Nepal and do not come to the notice of civilized world. This reflects the existing social reality of Nepal where poor, ignorant and innocent women in the rural villages have to put off with all kinds of social injustices as inhumanly grotesque as being charged with witchcraft practices. Physical torture leading to the deaths, forced feeding of human excreta and excommunication from the village in the name of witchcraft practice is the commonplace phenomena poor women in rural Nepal face and encounter everyday. Other forms of injustice women suffer from include: deprivation from educational opportunities, child labor and over work burden, rape, and trafficking. In view of the prevalence of such inhuman social practices from which women have suffered and have been suffering, HUMAN is committed to carry out the right-based advocacy work and humanist educational campaign in rural and urban areas of Nepal.
HUMAN conducted on site investigation of the most grotesque event of 14 August 2001 in the Simardahi VDC of Mahottari district of Nepal where more than 2000 rural Nepalese women were tortured and inhumanly treated, several of them were seriously injured and thousands were insulted, humiliated, and abused in the name of so-called "witch identifying ritual" in a single event. Simardhai case is just one of the hundreds of cases that occur every day in rural Nepal and do not come to the notice of civilized world. This reflects the existing social reality of Nepal where poor, ignorant and innocent women in the rural villages have to put off with all kinds of social injustices as inhumanly grotesque as being charged with witchcraft practices. Physical torture leading to the deaths, forced feeding of human excreta and excommunication from the village in the name of witchcraft practice is the commonplace phenomena poor women in rural Nepal face and encounter everyday. Other forms of injustice women suffer from include: deprivation from educational opportunities, child labor and over work burden, rape, and trafficking. In view of the prevalence of such inhuman social practices from which women have suffered and have been suffering, HUMAN is committed to carry out the right-based advocacy work and humanist educational campaign in rural and urban areas of Nepal.