District Court Mahottari, on January 10, has slapped fine Rs 5,000 and three months in jail to seven persons accused of mistreating a woman accusing her of being a witch.

Patamari Devi, 45, was mistreated two years ago on charge of being a witch when she was forced fed human excreta.

Jagdev Das Tatma, 52, Laldhari Das Tatma, 35, Devdhari Das Tatma, 32, Govinda Das Tatma, 41, Laxman Das Tatma alias Lallu, Rampari Devi, 45, Basmatiya Devi, 17 of Baspitti-8 were slapped the sentence.

The relatives of Patamari have expressed satisfaction over the verdict, however, all the accused remain absconding.

Meanwhile, Shambhu Prasad Gupta, a UML cadre has been arrested on January 10, eight years after the Supreme Court found his guilty of inhumanely behaving with a woman accusing her of being a witch.

Gupta was fined Rs 5,000 and sentenced to three months in jail by the then Chief Justice Govinda Bahadur Shrestha and Justice Ram Nagina Singh on November 10, 2003.