Indian Witch Hunting victims (L-R) Sugani Rabha, Lakshmi Rabha, Khedai Rabha, Lansun Rabha and Sampui Rabha sharing their ordeals at a state level consultation on ‘Witch hunting’ organisaed by Asam Mahila Samata Samiti on the occasion of International Human Rights Day in Guwahati city, northeast India, 10 December 2010. © picture-alliance/dpa

Every year, hundreds of women in India are attacked and even murdered after being accused of being witches. DW travelled to India’s eastern state of Jharkhand to take a closer look at what could be behind this often fatal superstition.

An Indian woman carries stones on her head at a rock processing area in Assam © Anuwar Hazarika/AFP/Getty Images

The belief in witchcraft, sorcery and the occult often times causes people to be wrongly accused of being a witch. In the last couple of months this has led to several killings in India’s eastern state of Assam. Read this story and other news about women here!

"Slutwalk" programmes are an attempt to sensitize men towards their female contemporaries

Sherlyn Chopra is the first Indian woman to feature in Playboy. The Indian media is choc-a-bloc with news about the model, her life and challenges, the hardships she faced and the accolades she won after she was chosen to “decorate” the pages of Playboy. The media in India obviously knows that this will generate a lot of interest, and it has. Until now, Indian newspapers and magazines have been trying to create the impression that they are simply presenting the “facts” as they are. Strangely enough, in a country which has seen a couple of shocking incidents of crime against women in the past few weeks, nobody has commented on the social impact of Sherlyn’s “contribution” to Playboy or that of other scantily clad stars.