A 40-year-old community health worker, who had been creating awareness against misinformation to get rid of vaccine hesitancy, was assaulted for allegedly practising witchcraft at a village in Latehar district of Jharkhand on Thursday.

Sources in Balumath police station, under which Indua village falls, said Hira Devi was assaulted with sticks and rods by neighbours Umesh Yadav, Sanjay Yadav and a few others.

Harinath Yadav, Hira’s husband and a small-time farmer, was also beaten up when he tried to rescue her.

The injured couple were admitted to the Balumath community health centre on Thursday and were released on Friday afternoon.

Health worker Hira Bhola Prasad

“I used to go to houses in my village informing people to take vaccines and not rely on superstitions and misinformation. However, some of our neighbours who are distant relatives of my husband had been accusing me of practising witchcraft and being responsible for the illnesses and deaths in their family. On Thursday, they stormed into our house and started hurling abuses at me. When I resisted, they assaulted me. My husband protested and he too was assaulted,” Hira said, adding that she has been actively engaged in administering vaccines to people with the health department team.

She said she had lodged a complaint at the Balumath police station and also with the Latehar superintendent of police against the accused persons who had been threatening her for several days, but no action was taken.

“Police inaction boosted the morale of the accused and they entered my house and beat us up,” Hira said.

Balumath police station officer-in-charge Dharmendra Kumar Mahato termed the incident as a family dispute.

“The complainant and the accused persons are related to each other and have been accusing each other of practising witchcraft. On Thursday, both sides got into a fight and both have lodged cases at the police station. We are investigating the incident,” Mahato said.

The officer, however, said no arrests had been made as the village was nearly 20km from the police station and was located in a dense forest having Maoist presence.

Health worker Harinath Bhola Prasad

“We will have to go to the village with a large force to arrest the accused persons as it is located far away in a rebel-hit area,” Mahato said.

Latehar superintendent of police Prashant Anand said an FIR had been registered.

“An FIR has been registered and the matter is being investigated,” he added.

Latehar deputy commissioner Abu Imran has ordered Bariatu block development officer-cum-circle officer Pradeep Das to meet Hira and submit a report. He has also directed the Latehar sub-divisional police officer to probe the incident.

Latehar civil surgeon Dr S.K. Srivastava said there was no vaccination at Indua village on Friday.

“There has been no vaccination in the village. But the health officer has informed that they have formed groups of villages where vaccination drives are being held on a particular day. Indua was not in the list of villages where jabs were administered on Friday,” Dr Srivastava said.