India, March 3 -- I can never forget the night when the entire village, including women, armed with weapons came to attack a helpless woman on the suspicion of being a witch. I would also have been killed with her had I not called the police", recalls 72-year-old Birubala Rabha, a victim-turned-crusader from Assam's Goalpara district, referring to a ghastly incident that took place in a small village on the Assam-Meghalaya border in 2007.

This year the primary school-educated Rabha was the recipient of the Padma Shri, India's highest civilian award for her crusade against witch-hunting. The award was a much-deserved pan-India recognition of her work. Rabha, ostracised and branded as a witch, devoted her life for the cause of other women ...