The hold of superstition in Nepal was confirmed by a shocking incident in December. Two women, aged 60 and 70, were brutally stabbed to death by a man who accused them of practising witchcraft. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The two women, Ratna Maya Subedi and Goma Maya Sindal, lived in the Sarlahi district of eastern Nepal. According to the report of the Humanist Association of Nepal (HUMAN), the perpetrator, Dik Bahadur Bhujel, had been feeling unwell for several weeks. Following traditional practice, he had been ‘treated’ by a Tantric healer, the husband of Ratna Maya, who had told him that he was possessed by an evil spirit.

To drive out the spirit, Dik Bahadur Bhujel sought the help of two relatives who were shamans. During the rituals, which involved a goat, a cock, and a pair of pigeons, the shamans ‘discovered’ that the two women were evil witches.

Early on the morning of 24 December, 2003, Dik Bahadur’s health worsened and he began to shake. Shouting that the two ‘witches’ had cast spells on him, he demanded to see Ratna Maya. When she arrived, he attacked her. His family managed to overpower him and lock him in a room but he broke down the door and killed Ratna Maya with a Khukuri, a traditional Nepalese weapon with an iron blade. He then headed for the house of the other ‘witch’, Goma Maya, and killed her too.

Dik Bahadur had been suffering from typhoid. Following pressure from HUMAN he has now been arrested and is awaiting trial.

Belief in witchcraft has been a social disease throughout the Hindu world since time immemorial. Irrational and inhuman superstitious practices deriving from Hinduism are deeply engrained in Nepalese society. Women have been accused of practising witchcraft, and humiliated and sometimes physically attacked. HUMAN is committed to raising public awareness about the issue and has launched a campaign against such barbaric, inhuman practices and the superstitions driving them. It has been involved in finding and highlighting crimes of this nature.

We appeal to Humanists worldwide to help support HUMAN’s activities against religious superstition and fundamentalism.

Ganga Prasad Subedi, Humanist Association of Nepal (HUMAN)