Witch-hunting sees new life in Assam, toll 17 and rising

"The victims were earlier tried by the villagers at a local meeting, where they were found to be indulging in witchcraft. They were then killed and the bodies were buried in the nearby forest," Kokrajhar Deputy Commissioner John Ingti Kathar said, adding the police had picked up 18 people for interrogation in connection with the killings.

The cases have been streaming in since May 1. That day, inhabitants of Alangi village – about 30 km from Kokrajhar – hacked to death 45-year-old Upendra Nath Basumatary on charges of sorcery. Ten days ago, the police recovered three mutilated and decomposed bodies of people from a forest near village Shalpara. The three too are suspected to have been killed for allegedly practising witch-craft.

While these incidents occurred in Bodo-dominated villages of Kokrajhar, similar incidents have also been reported from the Adivasi villages in Shonitpur district of northern Assam.

On May 14, suspected Adivasi (Santhal) labourers of Adabarrie tea estate, after beating up a woman labourer, reportedly poured kerosene on her, set her afire and later buried her. The labourer, Sukwara, had been "identified" as a witch by a group of labourers of the area following the death of a fellow labourer five days ago. The labourer had lost his mental balance and turned insane before his death, and his fellow workers blamed Sukwara.

Similar incidents have also been reported from other tea estates falling under under Rangapara and Thelamara police stations. In village Kawoimari under the Thelamara police station, four members of a family were hacked to death in January and buried in the same pit. A woman was also killed in Borjuli and Balipara tea estates, both under the Rangapara police station, over similar allegations.

Dr Atul Goswami, Director, Institute of Social Change and Development, Guwahati, told The Indian Express that the spree of incidents was strange as these were occurring after a gap of several years. "Such incidents had become rare with the rise in literacy and education levels in Assam during the past one decade. It is a matter of surprise as well as concern that witch-hunting is on the rise again," he said. Though the institute had so far not conducted any study on the issue, Goswami added, it was "high time" it did so.

"The possibility of some miscreants victimising others on personal vendetta cannot be ruled out too," he added, pointing out that it was difficult to take legal action in such cases as the person killed is a victim of mass frenzy.

But Pramila Brahma, a prominent Bodo leader and the Kokrajhar MLA, blamed the State Government. "There is a shortage of doctors in the rural areas. Thus the rural people are compelled to approach kavirajas and quacks. The kavirajas and quacks cannot cure serious diseases, and to cover their inability to cure, they put the blame on others and call them practitioners of witchcraft," she said.

Brahma added that the All Bodo Women’s Welfare Federation (ABWWF) has taken the matter seriously and would soon launch a vigorous campaign among Bodo villagers to stop believing in such quacks and frauds.