Story of Phoolbani

50-year-old Phoolbani was branded as a witch by people of Nuwa Gaon village in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. This was in 2005, and it continued for almost 6 months. One morning when her husband was in the washroom, and her son out at school, a group of villagers including 3 people from her in-law’s family barged in her house and dragged her out by her hair. She was forced to drink urine and animal excreta. Her husband, who was an Ojha, was also called a witch. The couple, along with their teenage daughter, were paraded and taken forcibly to another Ojha in a village close to Jamshedpur. On the way, the husband was pushed from a moving train, which was later called an accident by the accused. Phoolbani and her two children were taken out of their village and they now live in an adjoining village close to Chaibasa.