Assam: 11 held for hacking witch to death

Eleven persons,including three women,have been arrested in a village in Cachar district in southern Assam on Friday for allegedly hacking a 60-year old man to death,burying the corpse and observing a puja after dubbing him as a 8216;witch8217; responsible for the outbreak of diseases there.

Cachar SP Diganta Bora said Sukumara Murha,a resident of village Kolabil basti,claimed that goddess durga appeared in his dream and told him that local medicine-man Jawaharlal Murha,was a witch and was responsible for all the 8216;ills8217; happening in the village. According to Bora,Sukumar related his dream to fellow villagers on Thursday,and they allegedly called a kangaroo court in front of the village temple,dragged him to the temple courtyard and hacked him to death. The villagers allegedly sang and danced the whole night around the temple to appease the goddess.

8220;The villagers,who are mostly semi-illiterate casual labourers in a nearby tea estate,were drunk and in a state of trance,and we had to resort to lathi-charge before digging the body and making the arrests,8221; Bora said. All the eleven persons have been booked under Section 302 of the IPC,he added.