Human sacrifice
The week's news at a glance.
Atapur, India
At least seven people have been murdered in India this year as ritual offerings to the goddess Kali, Time Asia reported this week. The victims, mostly virgin girls, ranged in age from 3 to 18. In one recent incident, a man confessed to tying down a 15-year-old girl and lopping off her hands, breasts, and left foot while she was still alive. India’s increasing gap between rich and poor may explain the return of a practice that was rare even in ancient times. “You see your neighbor doing well, above his caste and position, and someone tells you to get a child and do a secret ritual and you can catch up,” sociologist Ashis Nandy said. “It’s got nothing to do with real mysticism,” said religious scholar Ipsita Chakaraverti. “It comes down to pure and simple greed.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Selling sex: why investors are wary of OnlyFans despite record profits
In The Spotlight The platform that revolutionised pornography is for sale – but its value is limited unless it can diversify
-
Garsington Opera opens its summer festival with two 'very different productions'
The Week Recommends A 'fabulous' new staging of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades and Donizetti's fake-love-potion comedy L'elisir d'amore
-
The Rehearsal series two: Nathan Fielder's docu-comedy is 'laugh-out-loud funny'
The Week Recommends Television's 'great illusionist' has turned his attention to commercial airline safety