GUWAHATI: Three brothers accused two of their relatives – both women – of filling a village well with insects, branded them as witches and buried them alive by pushing them into the water facility and
covering it up with mud and earth.
The incident was reported from Naharbari in central Assam’s Nagaon district. The victims were identified as Salmi Gaur, 47, and Sagu Gaur, 59 – both Adivasis. While Salmi was a cousin of the accused persons, Sagu was their maternal aunt.
The police have arrested two of the accused Basu Gaur and Sanu Gaur. The third, Kumar Sanu Gaur, was absconding.
“We drink water from a village well. But by practising black magic, they (Sagu and Salmi) filled it up with insects. As a result, we always used to fall sick. So, we caught them last (Monday) night and
buried them alive by pushing them into the well and filling it up with mud and earth,” Basu told reporters.
Witch-hunting, a social malaise, is common in Assam, especially in the Bodo and Adivasi-majority areas.
Usually, a ‘bej’ (quack) identifies the witch, who will then be beaten up, tortured, excommunicated and even killed. For every disease, death and even poor harvest in a village, the locals blame it on the
witches.
According to official records, witch-hunting claimed the lives of as many as 132 people, the vast majority of which were women and children, in Assam between 2002 and 2012. Illiteracy is often
attributed to the malaise.
The killings have not stopped despite a series of awareness campaigns by the police and various social organisations.