CHENNAI: Expressing its grief, the Madras High Court said on Thursday that it was disheartening to know that the evil practice of human sacrifice was still existing in the world even in the 21st century.

Justice G Chandrasekharan made the observation while hearing a petition filed by Shalini Sharma, a woman from Madhya Pradesh who alleged that her stepmother was trying to offer her as sacrifice.

According to Shalini, a resident of Nayapura village in Raisen district and a former functionary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), her stepmother, Sudha Sharma, was plotting to sacrifice her. But she managed to escape and arrived in Tamil Nadu with the help of her friend Dhakshina Moorthy, Shalini said.

When the matter was taken up, State Public Prosecutor Hasan Mohammed Jinnah assured the court that the State police would give protection to the 23-year-old.

Recording the submissions, the judge ordered notice to Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh police departments and also the petitioner’s parents returnable in three weeks.

The petitioner levelled serious allegations against her stepmother, alleging that the latter has already killed three, including the petitioner’s younger brother, in the name of human sacrifice.

“I could not return to my native place or anywhere in North India where there is no security for my life. I came to Tamil Nadu thinking that it is the safest place for women folk,” Shalini said in her petition.

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