`Court' forces son to cut dad fingers

Fandi Sardar at the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.

SNEHAMOY CHAKRABORTY , TT, 11 Oct 2018, Parui: A tribal kangaroo court at a village in Birbhum's Parui allegedly forced a son to chop off all ten fingers of his 66-year old father on Monday night after the elderly man was accused of witchcraft.

Sources in the village, about 12km from Santiniketan, said at least 100 people and the victim's family members witnessed the ghastly incident.

Family members of the elderly victim, Fandi Sardar, a farmer, said that his son with help of some relatives and villagers cut off the fingers of his father following a weeklong pressure by the entire village on the family, which was undergoing a social boycott.

Fandi Sardar was first taken by his family members to Bolpur sub-divisional hospital and was later shifted to Burdwan Medical College and Hospital where he is now being treated.

Utpal Dan, the medical superintendent and vice principal of Burdwan Medical College and Hospital told The Telegraph, "All the fingers of both hands of the patient were cut and there is a injury on the right side of his face. The patient, Fandi Sardar is now stable." Police have arrested six villagers, including Fandi's son Harichandra and a nephew Jatan Sardar on Wednesday evening.

"We have arrested six persons including the son of the person whose fingers were chopped. We have started an investigation to find out what led to the brutality," said Birbhum superintendent of police, Kunal Aggarwal.

A police officer said, "We have arrested six persons but we are yet to receive a formal complaint. Fandi's elder son Lakshmi Sardar has informed us he will lodge a complaint." According to family mem- bers and a section of villagers, trouble befell the family of Fandi, who used to conduct pujas at home, after a class IX girl fell ill in the village. The sick girl as well as a section of villagers blamed Fandi accusing him of witchcraft.

A group of villagers then went to Raipur village and contacted a local Ojha (witch doctor) who used to visit the village frequently for "treatment" of ill children.

The Ojha held a puja and a yajna in the village last Thursday and held a meeting headed by the village headman Anil Sardar where it was decided that "Fandi's witchcraft" involved his moving his fingers on the floor and so his fingers should be chopped off.

The village headman Anil however denied the allegation that Fandi's fingers were chopped under his direction saying, "The entire village wanted to cut off the fingers of Fandi and his son Harichan- The spot where the fingers were cut; (top) Fandi Sardar at the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital. Pictures byAnirban Hazra and Sekh Abubakkar Siddik dra did the job in presence of the villagers on Monday night." "Last Thursday evening, the Ojha came and held a puja where he claimed that my grandfather (Fandi) performs witchcraft by moving his fingers on the floor which led to the illness of the village girl. The girl who is a class IX student also blamed my grandfather for practicing witchcraft. Last Thursday evening after the kangaroo court verdict a large number of villagers came to our house and beat us up and threatened us that we would be driven out of our house. But that day my grandfather's were not cut as we requested them with folded hands not to do so," said Ruma Sardar, a granddaughter of Fandi.

The class IX girl on Wednesday claimed, "A witch cast his spell over me under Fandi's direction and I became ill. Fandi dadu had asked my father to sacrifice three goats to please the witch that had cast spell on me. So, he was punished by the villagers." Family members of Fandi said that they had no other option than cutting of the fingers of the elderly man because there was an unavoidable pressure by the entire village as they trusted the Ojha who was brought in from Raipur last Thursday.

Sushila, wife of Fandi said, "We live in this village and so we had to obey the verdict of the kangaroo court."