Rourkela, March 1: ?Do I look like a dahani,?asks Noni Ekka, innocence writ large on her face.

It was around 11 on a hot May night last year. Noni, a resident of Tainsar village in Lathikata block of Sundargarh district, had gone looking for her 10-year-old son Manoj. It was dark at her neighbour Sukhi?s place and Noni accidentally touched his 18-year-old daughter Sumi.

The girl could not see Noni?s face in the dark and took her for a ?ghost? before she fainted. Hearing her cries, Sumi?s parents rushed to the room and saw Noni sitting next to the unconscious girl.

Since Sukhi and his wife knew that Noni frequently visited a local godman, they were convinced that their daughter was a victim of the woman?s ?witchcraft?.

The following morning, the village panchayat pronounced Noni a witch. The woman was dragged out of her home, tonsured and fed human excreta. As penance, she was forced to chew cow bones.

Seniors in the Oram community, to which Noni and other villagers belonged, then asked her to leave the place.

The matter did not come to light till Noni reported it to the court of the subdivisional magistrate in Rourkela and subsequently to Brahmani Tarang police station on the outskirts of the city on May 28.

In the tribal heartland of Sundargarh, the word dahani holds sway over hundreds of backward villagers. While some brand unsuspecting women dahanis on the suspicion that they are ?witches?, there are others who use the term to exact revenge.

Once branded dahanis, the women are assaulted, harassed, abandoned and even killed. The district police have registered about 50 related deaths since 2001. In most cases, family members and fellow villagers are involved in the crime.

The reasons behind such superstitious practices are not far to seek. Years of illiteracy, poverty and a poor healthcare system have contributed to the development of superstitious beliefs among the people.

Sociologists say village quacks, who take advantage of the lack of health facilities in the region, are to a large extent responsible for the social ills.

?For these tribals, the village quacks are the best bet for any illness. So, when a person dies of malaria or some other ailment, the quacks pass the buck to some unsuspecting woman,? says Premananda Panda, professor of sociology at Sambalpur University.

In January 2003, Dileswar Barik of Alapaka village hacked six members of his family to death after he suspected one of them of practising witchcraft. A Sundargarh court sentenced him to death last year.

In a bid to put an end to such incidents, Sundargarh superintendent of police Y.K. Jethwa last year roped in Narendra Nayak, a professor of biochemistry at Mangalore?s Kasturba Medical College, and launched an anti-superstition campaign.

Having taken the first step, Jethwa now realises that the road ahead is long and challenging. ?Laws are necessary, but what we need is community motivation,? he says.