Woman kills nephew after being branded a witch

A woman was arrested for allegedly throttling his four-year-old nephew to death after being branded a witch by her sister-in-law in Odisha's Ganjam district.
Jolli Behera was arrested yesterday in connection with the murder of Swastik Pradhan at Sitalapalli under Gopalpur police station on December 3, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), Berhampur Sadar, Harihar Pani said.
When the child's mother and other family members, were busy in their farm land reaping paddy, the child's aunt strangulated her before throwing the body outside the village.
Preliminary investigations revealed that she killed the child after being branded by his mother a witch as she had already lost three children, police said.

Several activists, students of Berhampur University and villagers had undertaken candle light rallies after the death of the child demanding immediate arrest of the accused and stringent action against the culprit.