Tale of horror brings out skeletons

Puneet Nicholas Yadav

Ghaziabad reeling under tale of horrific ‘havan’ gone awry

NEW DELHI: Grimy tales of superstitions and barbarism are tumbling out of the national capital’s suburb, Ghaziabad; a day after three well-educated men beat their 55-year old mother to death while performing an ‘exorcism’ ritual on her as they believed she was possessed by a spirit.

The accused, Rohit, Navneet and Ashwini Gautam, who are now in judicial custody, beat up their mother Shashi at their Vijaynagar residence on Saturday. The men hit her repeatedly with rods and frying pans for nearly an hour after she reportedly suffered epileptic fits during a ‘havan’ being performed at home.

Shashi succumbed to the beating following which the brothers turned to their sister Renu, her husband Rohit Kumar and sister-in-law Ruchi demanding a human sacrifice to bring their mother back to life.

Similar stories are not uncommon in rural India, but Saturday’s incident has sent shock waves in the entire national capital region. Though locals in Ghaziabad dub Shashi’s killing as an extreme case of witchcraft, they do admit that performing a ‘havan’ to ward off illnesses like epilepsy is a common practice.

“These things (witchcraft) happen regularly though this is the first case of human sacrifice I have witnessed since I took charge. What is surprising is that unlike most cases, the accused were well-educated youth,” said Vijay Bhushan, superintendent of police (city).
Medical experts too have experiences to share.

“Often people who come to us for psychiatric help concede that they have also visited faith healers. Unfortunately even in cities and well-educated families, it’s common to believe that a person suffering from mental illnesses is possessed by an evil spirit,” explained Jitendra Nagpal, senior psychiatrist, Vimhans.