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Assam man burnt to death after kangaroo court finds him guilty of woman’s murder
According to the police, Bordoloi, a farmer, had sustained nearly 90% burns. The body has been sent for post-mortem and its report is awaited. A case of murder has been registered and five people from the village including three women have been detained for questioning
A 60-year-old man was burnt to death by a mob in Assam after a kangaroo court declared him guilty of murdering a woman relative, police said on Sunday.
According to the police, the incident took place at about 5 pm on Saturday at Lalunggaon, an interior tribal village located nearly 20 km from the highway under Samaguri police station in Nagaon district of central Assam.
“We got information at about 6 pm that a person had been burnt to death and buried following a local customary court’s decision. A team was immediately rushed and we found the victim Ranjit Bordoloi’s body from a freshly dug grave,” said Mrinmoy Das, sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Kaliabor.
According to the police, Bordoloi, a farmer, had sustained nearly 90% burns. The body has been sent for post-mortem and its report is awaited. A case of murder has been registered and five people from the village including three women have been detained for questioning.
Preliminary investigation revealed, on the morning of July 2, the body of Kabita Patar, a woman in her mid-20s who was married two months ago, was found in a village pond. The woman, who happens to be Ranjit Bordoloi’s neighbour and wife of his nephew, was reportedly pregnant.
“Villagers initially thought the cause of Kabita’s death to be drowning and cremated her without informing the police. But on July 5, rumours started circulating in the village that Kabita had been murdered and thrown in the pond,” said Das.
As the rumours spread, on Saturday villagers gathered and held a kangaroo court where Bordoloi was declared as responsible for Kabita’s death. Police say some villagers claimed Bordoloi had acknowledged that he had killed the woman, but that claim is not verified yet.
“Soon after the court pronounced Bordoloi guilty, nearly 50-60 villagers went to his house and picked him up. He was first severely thrashed and allegedly burnt to death by pouring kerosene. The villagers then buried the burnt body,” said Das.
The police have detained the deceased woman’s husband, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and two other villagers for their alleged involvement in Bordoloi’s murder. All five are likely to be arrested, police said.
“Those detained include a woman named Bharati Bordoloi, who was the first person to spread the rumours that Kabita had been murdered and suggested the deceased Bordoloi could be responsible for her death. Her interrogation is expected to give us more leads,” said Das.
“Following Saturday’s incident, most villagers have fled from the village. We are conducting search operations and more arrests are expected. This entire incident happened because people from the area still practice customary laws where local courts decide on most matters and residents usually don’t report incidents of crime to the police,” he added.
Incidents of witch hunting keep getting reported from several parts of Assam each year where locals mete out punishments to fellow villagers for alleged crimes and deaths of persons. According to Assam government figures, between 2011 and 2019, a total of 107 persons were killed across Assam in witch-hunting incidents.
In October, 2020, a 50-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man were killed and their bodies burnt by fellow villagers in Karbi Anglong district on suspicion of the duo being witches and practicing black magic.
In a bid to curb this practice, in 2015 the Assam assembly passed the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Act. The Act specifies that deaths caused due to witch-hunting be punished for murder under provisions of Section 302 of Indian Penal Code.
