BHOPAL: A woman had to walk on a bed of hot coals in MP’s Chhindwara district to prove she was ‘not doing black magic’ with her husband and in-laws.
No FIR has been registered yet, but police and the state human rights commission have taken note of a viral video of the trial by fire, and begun investigations.
The incident took place on August 17 in Ramkona, Sauser subdivisional police officer S P Singh said. The village of 6,000 people is around 300km from Bhopal.
When the video went viral, the woman told mediapersons that she had walked on the coal bed of her own will, but admitted that she had no option since her husband and in-laws would take neither her word for it, nor the assurance of a self-styled godman.
In the video, the ‘baba’ is heard telling a crowd that if she walks on the hot coals and doesn’t get hurt, she is “innocent”. Her husband is present in the crowd and the baba tells him that if she comes out uninjured, he will have to accept what she says.
“The woman seen in the video has been identified as Jyoti Bai, 30, wife of Punjab Rao of Mau village in Mokhed police station area. The religious spot, where the incident took place, is around 30km from her home,” Singh said.
Jyoti has told police that her mother-in-law accused her of casting black magic spells on her husband but denied that she forced her to walk on hot coals, said Singh. Jyoti was not injured. The police investigation is on.
Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) took cognizance of the video and asked for a report from the Chhindwara SP. “The woman had to prove that the accusation leveled by her mother-in-law was not true, and was made to walk on embers in the durbar of a self-proclaimed godman,” the commission noted.
