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A Dalit woman's nose was chopped off after she was accused of practicing witchcraft in a village in Bihar's Khagaria district on Wednesday, said the police.
Nunu Dai was beaten up and her nose was chopped off in Kainzari village.
Nunu Dai, a sarpanch of the Kainzari panchayat, has been admitted to a hospital in Khagaria.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar said that an FIR was lodged against five accused. "The police will arrest all of them," he said.
He said the police have arrested one person and are conducting raids to arrest the other accused, who are absconding.
According to the police, some villagers accused Nunu of practicing witchcraft and making two people in the village fall sick.
They asked her to use witchcraft to help the sick villagers recover. When Nunu told them that she has noting to do with their illness, they attacked her with bamboo and iron sticks. Later, they chopped off a part of her nose with a sharp weapon.
The practice of branding women as witches and torturing them -- often to death -- continues unabated in remote rural areas of Bihar.