Jaya Majumdar and neighbour Swapan Poddar. Pictures by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

A 40-year-old housewife, Jaya Majumdar, has allegedly been branded a witch and assaulted by her neighbours in Lake Gardens.

She has lodged a complaint with Charu Market police station and also moved the state women?s commission. Panel functionary Bharati Mutsuddi has promised Jaya to take up the matter.

?Several members of the Poddar family, our next-door neighbour, assaulted me on the road and even pulled off my sari on July 9. They said I was a witch. I was severely injured,? Jaya said on Sunday.

She suspects the Poddars beat her up because they wanted to grab her house to expand their business.

Jaya?s one-room flat at Lake Gardens West (CMDA Housing Project), where she lives with 14-year-old son Nayan and husband Nepal (who is blind), is mostly filled with two large trishuls, a large shivalinga and several photographs of Kali and other gods and goddesses. The neighbours said priests from the Kalighat temple often visited the house.

?I was at my puja when Swapan Poddar, his wife Abha and several other members of the family dragged me out of my house. They pulled me by the hair to the street, though I was just wrapped in a sari. They then beat me up with a broom, almost pulled off my sari and kept abusing me, calling me witch?,? Jaya recalled, breaking down.

The Poddars, she alleged, locked her son in the room and throttled her husband so they could not come to her rescue. Swapan Poddar and Abha admitted that they were upset over Jaya?s ?witchcraft?, but denied having assaulted her.

?She does all kinds of tuk-tak (black magic) like a daini? We often find flowers in our lane ? she must have dropped them. She also performs yajnas in her house,? said Swapan. ?It is because of her witchcraft that I suffer from a chronic giddiness,? alleged Abha.

But both stressed that they had only asked Jaya to give up witchcraft. ?There was a heated argument, but we didn?t beat her.?

Charu Market thana officer-in-charge Nissar Ahmed, who visited both houses on Saturday night, said: ?I have told both families not to meddle in each other?s affairs. The assault charge has yet to be established. I have warned Jaya?s neighbours that if the situation spins out of control, we will take action.?