By Quaid Najmi

Mumbai, Mar 10 (IANS): In another diabolical incident, a 27-year-old married woman from Saundana village in Beed, Maharashtra, was brutally raped, starved and her menstrual blood was sold for Rs 50,000 for some witchcraft rituals, officials said here on Friday.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MLC Manisha Kayande raised the issue in the Maharashtra Legislative Council and demanded strict punishment for the perpetrators of the crime, which ironically came to light on the eve of International Women's Day on Tuesday.

She said that following the intervention of the woman's maternal family, the Vishrantwadi police station in Pune has lodged an FIR against even accused persons, including the victim's husband and his parents.

"The victim woman has stated in her complaint that she was starved for three days during her monthly periods and her menstrual blood was collected and sold to someone for Rs 50,000 for some black magic purposes," Kayande said.

The woman added that since her love marriage around 2019, her husband and in-laws had been torturing her on various grounds though the exact reasons - whether dowry demands or others - were not available.

She said that recently her in-laws had tied her up during her monthly periods, collected her menstrual blood using cotton swabs and sold it for Rs 50,000 to some person who indulges in practicing witchcraft.

The Pune police have booked all the accused under the stringent Maharashtra Black Magic Act and other laws and further probe is on.

BJP's Pune Guardian Minister Chandrakant Patil expressed shock over the incident and directed the police to invoke the strictest laws against all the accused persons.

"Many times, in rural or even urban areas, such inhumane customs and barbaric practices are followed along with black magic. I demand that firm action should be taken against the accused under the relevant sections of law and a search should be carried out to catch those indulging in such abhorrent practices," Kayande said.

This is the second such shocker emanating from Pune in the past two months. In January, a 28-year-old woman was forcibly made to undergo bizarre rituals in a crematorium.

The victim had informed the Sinhgad Police that she was made to take bath in the crematorium and then compelled to drink a liquid laced with powdered human bones and ashes as part of certain rites allegedly intended to enable her conception.

The Sinhgad police had swooped in to nab the woman's husband, his parents, his brother and three others for the heinous crime, while the President of Maharashtra State Commission for Women, Rupali Chakankar, had sought a probe report from the police.