Fake healer ‘Seetha Maniyo’ nabbed after torturing teen in name of ‘cure’

By Dayaratne Embogama

A woman who claims to possess a magical healing power and popularly known as ‘Seetha Maniyo’ was arrested on Monday by the Horowpathana Police for severely beating a 16 year old girl with a cane and causing her burn injuries with a red hot areca-nut cutter to cure her sickness.  

The girl’s parents had brought her to the woman’s devala at Welimuwapothana to cure her sickness.  

The 45 year old woman is a resident of Kapugollewa in Horowpathana. Police said the suspect who claims to possess a healing power is running a devala in a room of her home.   

The girl who called over at the devala to obtain treatment is a resident of Pihimbiyagollewa in Medawachchiya.  

The woman who examined the girl had told her parents that she is possessed by a devil and, in a trance, had beat her with a cane and burned several areas of her body with a heated areca- nut cutter to exorcise the devil from her body.  

Following investigations into her parent’s complaint, the police arrested the woman called ‘Seetha Meniyo’ and admitted the girl to the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital.  

The woman was to be produced before court today.