Branded As A W!tch By Her Family, Chutni Now Needs Your Help To Save Thousands From The Same Fate

Chutni was only 12 when she was married. She never imagined that one day, she would be hunted - not by wild animals, but by her own people.

She still shudders when she recalls the night of April 1995. The angry mob, the torches, the villagers dragging  her out, humiliated her, forced her to drink ur!ne, and paraded her half-n@ked through the streets. 

Her crime? When her brother-in-law’s daughter fell ill, a quack pointed fingers at her and declared - “She’s a w!tch.”

“They wanted to burn me alive along with my children. I begged, I pleaded. But superstition had deafened their hearts."- Chutni

With four children clinging to her, she ran into the darkness, away from the flames that were meant to consume her. It was a miracle she survived. But countless women do not.

Chutni has saved over 1,200 women, yet superstition continues to claim lives in India

Even today, women in remote villages are branded as 'w!tches,' beaten, tortured, and outcasts. For crimes beyond their control like - looking different, being a widow, a mother of only daughters, a woman with special needs, or simply, a woman who dares to say 'no' to being physically assaulted by male relatives.

For the last 30 years, Chutni has been the shield for more than 1,200 women branded as witches, standing between them and the horrors she once endured. She has pulled women from the brink of death, kept them safe in her own home for months, fighting their battles in court while risking her own safety to stop brutal punishments.

The law exists, but superstition still breathes

Despite the law, murder fueled by the fear of black magic still haunts Jharkhand and the rest of the Indian villages. Women are h#nted, blamed, and k!lled under the guise of w!tchcraft. Even today, police records link several deaths to these brutal superstitions.

In 2021, she was honored with the Padma Shri. But awards don’t matter when, just a year later, 3 women were murdered in a nearby village for being “w!tches.” 

The law exists. But justice still struggles to find its way.

Despite accolades, Chutni's journey is a reminder of the battles many women face in silence

Women arrive at her doorstep with nothing - no food, no home, holding their newborns in trembling hands. "Some mothers are even afraid to breastfeed their daughters. 'What if they curse me again? What if I harm my own child?' They cry. It breaks my heart."- Chutni

"Once, I stopped a mob from cutting a woman’s hair, nails, and staining her face black. For that, I was jailed too but if I stop, more women will die."

Chutni and her team keep these women who come with complaints with us until the attackers sign bonds to not harm them again. 

But how will these women eat? How will they survive when they have nowhere to go?

Saved by the Association for Social and Human Awareness (ASHA), an organization fighting against the very evil that nearly destroyed her, Chutni turned her survival into a mission. Now, alongside ASHA and Donatekart, she needs your help to restore dignity, safety, and hope to women still being branded as witches. You can help donate groceries, construction materials, beds, counselling and rescue expenses to help give these women a life free from suffering. 

Support Padma Shri winner Chutni in saving women falsely accused as ‘w!tches’