Adivasi woman burnt alive in Assam over witchcraft suspicions
Sonitpur, Assam: In a horrifying incident in northern Assam's Sonitpur district, an Adivasi woman, Sangita Kapi, was allegedly burnt alive on December 24 by a group of individuals who suspected her of practicing witchcraft.
The assailants, believed to be from the same village, reportedly stormed Sangita's house on a Sunday evening. The attackers interrupted her while she was cooking and physically assaulted her, branding her as a witch. Sangita's husband, Ram Kapi, pleaded with them to stop and return in the morning but was also beaten up when he tried to intervene.
Despite the stringent laws against witch-hunting in Assam, the attackers continued their brutal assault, leading to Sangita's death. The police have arrested six individuals from the same village in connection with the incident. They are currently in custody awaiting further legal proceedings.
Assam has been grappling with the issue of witch-hunting, despite the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention, and Protection) Act passed in 2018. Between 2011 and 2019, the state reported 107 deaths in witch-hunting incidents, according to Assam government data. While legal measures have been taken to address this heinous practice, the conviction rates in such cases remain low.
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UP man gets life term for electrocuting mentally challenged wife to death in Bareilly
Bareilly (UP) (PTI): A local court here has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering his mentally challenged wife by repeatedly electrocuting her while she was tied to a cot, lawyers said on Thursday.
Additional district government counsel Harendra Singh Rathore said Additional Sessions Judge Avinash Kumar Singh on Wednesday convicted Vinod Kumar (45) for killing his wife, Satyavati, in Chaina village of Bareilly district and imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on him.
According to the prosecution, he was allegedly frustrated with his wife Satyavati's mental illness and often assaulted her.
Rathore said the prosecution examined nine witnesses to establish the charges against him.
As per court records, on the night of May 1-2, 2022, when Satyavati was asleep, Vinod tied her hands and legs to a cot using ropes and then connected an aluminium cable to an electric board to repeatedly administer electric shocks to her.
"She writhed in pain, but the accused continued to electrocute her until she died," the prosecution said.
The court observed that the murder was carried out in an inhuman manner.
After committing the crime, the accused threw the rope and cable on the roof and left for work at a brick kiln around 2 am to create a false alibi.
He later tried to mislead the police and the victim's family by claiming that Satyavati, whose mental condition was unstable, had accidentally died by suicide after grabbing a live electric wire.
However, the victim's brother, Sanjeev, a resident of Shahjahanpur district, suspected foul play and lodged an FIR under sections 498A (husband subjecting wife to cruelty) and 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code at Nawabganj police station.
During the trial, the prosecution relied on the post-mortem report prepared by Dr Faraz Anwar, who stated that multiple electrocution marks found on different parts of the victim's body could not have been self-inflicted.
The police also recovered the rope and electric wire used in the crime on the accused's identification, officials said.
