Ranchi (Jharkhand): Five women were killed by locals at Kanjia village in Ranchi district for allegedly practising 'witchcraft' in yet another barbaric incident related to superstition in the tribal state.
Superintendent of Police (Rural) Raj Kumar Lakra said a group of villagers used lathis and sharp edged weapons to kill the women at around midnight.
They suspected the women of practising witchcraft, police said. The bodies were recovered today.
Jharkhand accounted for 54 out of 160 cases of murders where women were branded witches and killed in 2013 and a total of 400 women have been murdered with the same motive since 2001 in the state.
The National Crime Records Bureau has estimated 2,097 such murders between 2000 and 2012 in the country.
