Project Devi wins Skoch Award for combating superstition

Dang district police rescue 65 women branded as witches and subjected to abuse

- Sarfaraz.Shaikh

Not long ago, a 65-year-old widow in Gujarat's Dang district was branded a witch following a disease outbreak in the village. She endured mental torture, boycotts, and even a beating by the village witch doctor as part of their "traditional treatment." Tragically, another woman lost her life to such a beating just two years earlier.

Despite being in the 21st century, such incidents persist in Gujarat's tribal belts, where women, often widows, are blamed for any misfortune and face physical torture. In the past three years, this has led to two suicides and one death during a witch doctor's "treatment."

Dang SP Yashpal Jaganiya has confronted this issue head-on with Project Devi. "What villagers call a witch, we call Devi," he told Mirror. This project has identified and aided 65 women branded as witches and subjected to physical and mental abuse or ostracism.