A quack (kabiraj) was lynched by a mob at Sitoi Adong village under Dongkamukam police outpost in Assam’s West Karbi Anglong district on Thursday on the ground that he had sexually abused two girls.
The quack has been identified as 45-year-old Hussain Ali, a resident of Raikata Sandanpur in Hojai district.
It has been alleged that taking advantage of people’s ignorance due to superstitious beliefs in the area, Hussain Ali had been practising ‘kabiraji’ for a long time.
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It has also been alleged that Hussain Ali had treated both men and women but gave particular attention to the women and girl patients.
“He used to treat them in a closed room,” said locals.
On July 3, he treated a girl in the same manner in a closed room.
On Thursday too, he was treating another girl in a closed room in the same village.
However while he was about to leave, a mob gathered and attacked him alleging that he had sexually assaulted the girls.
The village headman informed Dongkamukam police outpost about a mob beating the man.
Police rushed to the spot immediately and took injured Ali to the hospital but he succumbed to his injuries.
The superintendent of police (SP), West Karbi Anglong, Mrinal Talukdar, speaking to the media at Hamren said, “Nobody can take law into their own hands.”
SP Talukdar said, “We have visited the spot. It was around 10:45 am when the village headman of Sitoi Adong came and informed the police at Dongkamukam outpost about a man being beaten. Immediately the IC along with the headman went to the village and found the information true.”
“He was shifted to the civil hospital for medical treatment. However, the doctor declared him dead. The police went back to the spot and on questioning found that in the name of practising kabiraji, the kabiraj (Ali) behaved inappropriately with two girls which led to the incident,” said Talukdar.
“Anyway this has to be informed to the police first. We could have taken action as per law. Nobody can be above the law and nobody can take the law into their own hands,” added SP Talukdar.
Saying that the police are investigating into the case, Talukdar said, “We will register a case and the guilty will have to be punished.”