Editing Religious abuse (section)

==Physical==
Physical abuse in a religious context can take the form of beatings, illegal confinement, neglect, near drowning or even murder in the belief that the child is [[Demonic possession|possessed by evil spirits]], practicing sorcery or [[witchcraft]], or has committed some kind of [[sin]] that warrants punishment. Such extreme cases are, though, rare.{{Cn|date=June 2023}}

In 2012, the United Kingdom's [[Department for Children, Schools and Families]] instituted a new action plan to investigate the issue of faith-based abuse after several high-profile murders, such as that of Kristy Bamu.<ref>{{cite web |last=Taylor |first=Jerome |date=1 March 2012 |title=Couple guilty of horrific witchcraft murder |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/couple-guilty-of-horrific-witchcraft-murder-7468465.html |access-date=25 January 2017 |website=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> Over a term of 10 years, [[Metropolitan Police Service|Scotland Yard]] conducted 83 investigations into allegations of abuse with faith-based elements and feared there were even more that were unreported.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Witchcraft-based child abuse: Action plan launched | url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-19248144 | access-date = 15 August 2012 | work = BBC News| date = 2012-08-14}}</ref>