Himalayan News Service

Kavre, January 23:

A family in Dhulikhel municipality-7, Bakhundole, of Kavre has recently forced its eldest daughter-in-law Shobha Raya (26) out of the house at midnight accusing her of being a witch. Shobha who married to Kamal Raya in 1998 has two children — a son and a daughter. Within two years of her marriage, her husband married to a second woman. Since then, she was being discriminated against by the family.

Kamal is working as a marketing agent for a private firm. She was discarded by the family after her sister-in-law developed an ‘illness’ causing shivering of her body sometime ago. Since then she has been earning a living by selling vegetables in Dhulikhel.

Since the first shivering incident, Shobha was accused of spelling witchcraft on her sister-in-law Durga (16). “She has already shivered twice and during the shivering she use to take Shobhaa’s name and threatens to destroy the family,” Shova’s father-in-law Min Bahadur Raya claimed. Durga said she loses all senses once her body starts shivering. However, she has no knowledge about what witchcraft is all about. She added, she was told by Hari Prasad Pokharel, a shaman healer in Dhulikhel, that someone within the family is acting against her.

Meanwhile, Shobha has filed a case in the district police office’s women cell on Friday seeking justice. Kamala Subedi, the chief of the women’s cell, said the process will move ahead only after talking to both the parties.