At a recent party convention in Mahottari, UML General Secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal warned party workers that the UML would expel any party member found involved in abusing or humiliating innocent women on the grounds that they might be 'witches'. In the past year, Mahottari has seen more than a dozen incidents of women accused of being witches and undergoing torture and public humiliation, and informal reports suggest that local UML representatives have been involved in some of these incidents.