Dolakha, November 25

A couple from Dolakha’s Bigu Municipality has been ostracised on the charge of practising witchcraft.

Ratna Bahadur Shrestha, 61, and his wife Krishnamaya Shrestha, 57, were ostracised from Syankhu of Chilankha of Bigu-5 for practising witchcraft.

It is learnt that a meeting of Syankhu Tole Reform Committee had shamed the couple by declaring them guilty. A meeting of the tole reform committee chaired by committee chairman Ratna Narayan Shrestha had charged the couple with practising witchcraft and meted out torture to them from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm on November 17.

The couple said the committee had pressured them to sign on a document calling them witches. The committee has banned the couple from attending weddings and feasts at the village.

The victims’ eldest son Bhajuram Shrestha, who came from Kathmandu, filed a case against nine persons including the tole committee Chair Shrestha and a shaman with police last Friday.

After the case was filed, a police team deployed from Area Police Office arrested Shrestha and brought him to Dolakha District Police Office, said Inspector Resham Bohora.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Man Bahadur Rai said that police would investigate the incident and punish the guilty.