The Indian woman who hunts the witch hunters

[rashore]

Not so long ago, Birubala Rabha believed witches existed.

Growing up, neighbours often told her about evil women, or daini (witches) skulking in the village.

Ms Rabha was six when her father died, forcing her to drop out of school to help her mother, a farm worker in India's north-eastern Assam state.

She was 15 when she got married to a farmer.

Ms Rabha mostly stayed at home, weaving and looking after their three children.

In the mid 1980s her eldest son had a bout of typhoid and she took him to a village quack in Goalpara.

He told her that her son had fallen under the spell of a fairy who was pregnant with their son and that as soon as the child was born, her son would die.

Her son recovered, and months passed without any mishaps. That was when Ms Rabha stopped visiting quacks because she felt they were "frauds".

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35975360

[psyche101]

It is heartwarming to know that Logic and Common sense can overcome superstition even under the most adverse and difficult of conditions. Good on her. Champion lady.

[glorybebe]

More people in these areas need to think like her.

[Peter B]

Good luck to her. Doing that sort of work in India can be dangerous.