Seven people have been booked in Maharashtra’s Pune after a woman was forced by her in-laws and husband to consume powder made of human bones as part of black magic to conceive a child. The ritual was recommended by a local tantrik.
Pune city deputy commissioner Suhail Sharma said that a case has been lodged under Sections 498 A, 323, 504, 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 3 of anti-superstition act (Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013) against the seven individuals.
The case was registered at the Sinhgad Police station on Wednesday (January 18) after the woman filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the seven people, including her in-laws, her husband, and the tantrik.
This, however, was not the first time the woman lodged a complaint against her in-laws and her husband. There were two prior occasions when she had filed a complaint against them.
In the first matter, the victim alleged that her in-laws had demanded dowry at the time of her marriage in 2019 which included gold and silver jewelry, and some cash. In the second case, the police imposed Section 3 of anti-superstition and black magic, according to the complaint application.
Police said that the woman was forced to indulge in an ‘Aghori’ practice under a waterfall on several occasions during Amavasya nights (new moon nights) at home. During these rituals, the in-laws would also take instructions from a tantrik over video calls.
“We have started to search the particular crematorium where these practices took place. We would be arresting these accused as soon as possible after which more details of the incident will be revealed. Right now, we can be assured that an ACP rank police officer would be supervising the case probe,” DCP Sharma said.
Inspector Jayant Rajurkar of Sinhgad Road police station told PTI that the woman was forced to drink water mixed with powdered human bones. He added that she was also made to bathe in the waterfall.
Rajurkar said that the woman alleged the accused mentally and physically harassed her to force her to get money from her parents.
