Jaipur, India - Three women were labelled as witches and forced to leave their village in Rajasthan, said police officials Thursday.
Hero, Nathi and Sawal were held responsible for the deaths of children and livestock in the area and asked to leave their village Selaj Lolakpura of Dungarpur district, over 520 km from here.
The women, married with children, sought police protection at Varda police station late Tuesday.
'A complaint was filed and we are looking into the allegations. We would certainly provide them full protection,' a senior police official told IANS on phone.
In a bid to curb rural Rajasthan's persistent malpractice of branding and torturing women as witches, the state's women's commission has sent a related draft bill to the government.
'Women who exhibit abnormal behaviour are often called witches and ill-treated by society in parts of Rajasthan. In order to prevent the inhuman practice, we have come out with a draft bill,' Rajasthan State Women's Commission chairperson Tara Bhandari said.
The draft bill - the Rajasthan Prevention of Witch (Dain) Practices Bill - would ensure punishment for any person or community that intentionally or inadvertently abets, conspires, aids and instigates the identification of a woman as a witch, leading to her mental and physical torture and humiliation.
Bhandari said the commission has also decided to hold awareness camps this year to apprise women of their rights and legal provisions.