Five people lynched on suspicion of being witches
Indo Asian News Service
DailyIndia.com
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Guwahati, Assam (India):
Five people of a family in Assam were lynched and their torsos handed over to police by the killers for allegedly practicing witchcraft, officials Sunday said.
Police and locals said the bizarre incident took place Saturday at the Sadharu tea plantation in the northern Sonitpur district, about 240 km from Assam's main city of Guwahati.'A group of about 200 tea garden workers were present when the five people were beheaded one by one in full public view and their decapitated bodies carried in a procession to the police station,' a police official A. Hazarika said.
The deceased were identified as 60-year-old Amir Munda and his four children, including two daughters. Both Munda and the villagers are tribal people belonging to the Adivasi Santhal community.'Munda's pregnant wife and her three young children managed to escape before the mob killed the other members of the family,' Hazarika told IANS on telephone.
Police said hundreds of tea garden workers Saturday morning assembled at an open field and held a trial to find out the cause of a mysterious disease that claimed two plantation workers and affected many more during the past two weeks.Despite denial by the family of not being involved in any kind of black magic or sorcery, the villagers decided to offer capital punishment. Mar 19, 2006
Indo Asian News Service
DailyIndia.com
__________
Guwahati, Assam (India):
Five people of a family in Assam were lynched and their torsos handed over to police by the killers for allegedly practicing witchcraft, officials Sunday said.
Police and locals said the bizarre incident took place Saturday at the Sadharu tea plantation in the northern Sonitpur district, about 240 km from Assam's main city of Guwahati.'A group of about 200 tea garden workers were present when the five people were beheaded one by one in full public view and their decapitated bodies carried in a procession to the police station,' a police official A. Hazarika said.
The deceased were identified as 60-year-old Amir Munda and his four children, including two daughters. Both Munda and the villagers are tribal people belonging to the Adivasi Santhal community.'Munda's pregnant wife and her three young children managed to escape before the mob killed the other members of the family,' Hazarika told IANS on telephone.
Police said hundreds of tea garden workers Saturday morning assembled at an open field and held a trial to find out the cause of a mysterious disease that claimed two plantation workers and affected many more during the past two weeks.Despite denial by the family of not being involved in any kind of black magic or sorcery, the villagers decided to offer capital punishment. Mar 19, 2006
