In a shocking incident, witchcraft was practiced in a government-funded residential school in Surat to treat a girl student who was unwell.
As soon as the reports about the incident spread, the state government on Thursday evening directed tribal development commissioner to inquire into the matter.
According to sources, a student of Vatsalya Kanya Asram Sala at Madhi village, a vocational training residential school for tribal girls, fell ill, however, instead of taking her to a doctor, hostel warden called an occult practitioner who carried out witchcraft on all 140 girls of the institution.
The rationalist group demanded an inquiry and Vigyan Jatha group leader Jayant Pandya demanded that the government should file a criminal complaint against the warden and the trustees of the residential school.
Anita Nayal, the Assistant Commissioner in charge of Tribal Development, said, “I learned about the witchcraft incident and reached the school during the preliminary inquiry, where students and teachers are claiming that they have tied red thread on their foreheads on the occasion of Mahashivratri. A detailed inquiry will be conducted, and the report will be submitted to the tribal commissioner.”