Seasons in the sun: The hills of Durpindara in Kurseong bask in the morning sun. Picture by Avijit Sarkar

Alipurduar, Dec. 1: Birshi Kharia has been on the run for the past six months. A tea garden labour, Kharia has the entire village hunting for her after being branded a witch by local jangurus (witch doctors).

This correspondent managed to find her and paid her a visit. It took quite a few knocks and assurances to convince Kharia that he was not one of the villagers.

Eyes, streaked with fear, peered through a slit in the door.

“I thought the villagers had come to get me,” she said, after letting him in.

Seventy-year-old Kharia’s ordeal began on May 4, the day she visited her ailing neighbour, whose health deteriorated further from the day after.

“Jackaria Munda’s health went from bad to worse after I visited him. Jangurus, called by his family because they thought he was possessed by evil spirits, branded me a witch. They said Jackaria was suffering because I had cast a curse on him,” Kharia said. “ Taken in by their words, the villagers ganged up to kill me. I was dragged from my house and mercilessly beaten by them. When they felt my body go limp, I was shoved into a gunny bag. They tied its mouth up to prevent me from escaping and poured kerosene on the sack to set it on fire,” she added, suppressing a shudder. “Had the police not arrived in the nick of time, I would have been dead.”

“We rushed to the spot the moment we received information of the incident,” said the officer-in-charge of the Kalchini police station. “The frenzied villagers pelted us with stones and bricks and we had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse the mob,” he added.

The Mundas were arrested and put behind bars.

For Kharia, however, it was just the beginning of a nightmare. The accuseds were released on bail a few days later.

The police took Kharia to the Latabari heath centre. She remained there for 12 days.

“I felt threatened and so left even though I was not fit enough,” she said. Kharia moved to a women’s home and stayed there for three months but the nagging feeling of being stalked made her move again.

“Her fear is not unfounded,” a tribal schoolteacher in her village said. “The search for her is on. Sadly, the tribal welfare officials are no help. All they do is organise the odd awareness programme.”

Arun Mitra, subdivisional officer of the Backward Classes Welfare Department, Alipurduar, said: “We had no idea where the woman was. She never came to us for help.”

With no one to help her out of her misery, Kharia spends her days in hiding. “ If I am hunted down I will be burnt alive.” she said, crying. “Please, don’t tell anyone where you met me.”