Jowai, May 17: The Dorbar Shnong of Saba village, West Jaintia Hills has come up with a clarification in connection with the incident of burning of a house which belonged to one of the villagers, Nijanduh Phawa who was accused of practising witchcraft.
The house of Phawa was set on fire on Sunday evening allegedly by the dorbar shnong which later expelled her from the village.
The dorbar shnong has denied its involvement in setting fire to the house of Phawa and expelling her from the village. However, the dorbar shnong claimed that she had left the village on her own for safety after she had been accused of practising witchcraft by villagers.
Narrating the whole story, the dorbar shnong in a press release signed by the headman, Andreas Suchiang, informed that it all started on March 14 after six young girls aged between 6, 7 and 8 years had suffered sickness similar to epilepsy.
One of the girls called the name of Phawa during the state of being possessed which came and went off frequently.
“The girl even ran to the house of Phawa when she was being possessed allegedly by Taro (witch)”, stated the dorbar shnong.
The headman stated that the parents of the girls had lodged a complaint with the dorbar shnong which then decided to summon Phawa on April 19 where she denied all the allegations levelled against her. The dorbar also claimed that Phawa had threatened to file a police complaint against the dorbar shnong.
Later, Phawa requested the headman to convene the Dorbar Shnong (general meeting) once again to solve the matter. On May 9, the dorbar shnong was held and she had assured the dorbar shnong that she would performed some rituals to cure the girls and if they were not cured, she would leave the village voluntarily.
” Phawa performed the rituals, however, all the girls were not cured”, the Dorbar shnong stated.
“On May 14, Phawa’s house was attacked with stones and some windows pane were shattered and we do not know who did it”, the statement added.
On May 15, leaders of the Phawa clan came to the village and met us and a girl was possessed again and this time, the leaders of the clan also witnessed the condition of the girl.
“We had a meeting with the leaders of Phawa clan and we decided to request Rijanduh Phawa to leave the village for the time being for own safety. However, her house was burnt in the evening”, the statement said.
“We came to know only in the next morning and we do not know who did it even after conducting a preliminary enquiry”, the statement added.