Woman ostracized by villagers

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, March 11: A lady and her family were ostracized yesterday by the villagers in the Garbhonga Forest area, around 20 km from Gorchuk, on the allegation that she was practicing witchcraft.

The incident occurred after the death of the brother of the woman last month. Sources said that the person died abruptly after returning from his sister’s house where he had gone with his family. They reportedly took some home-made wine and returned home at night, and the very next day the person died.

However, after the rituals of the dead man the villagers cast doubt on the cause of the death of the person and held his sister guilty of the incident. The situation was tense when the aggressive villagers attacked the house of the woman at once on March 7 and injured her and her sons. However, other people present there brought the situation under control. The villages called a meeting to discuss the matter. On March 19 when the meeting held, the meeting took a decision to expel the women and her family from the village. However, on request from the woman, the meeting softened its stand and decided to ostracize the women and her family.