TURA: A seriously ill man lost his life after a group of villagers, including relatives, suspecting him to be possessed by evil spirits, allegedly assaulted him and kept him awake for questioning despite his critical condition in Dobakol village of Bajengdoba region in North Garo Hills early Sunday morning, a delayed report stated.
According to reports, the young man Sengra R Marak (around 32) had been suffering from high fever brought on possibly due to a bout of pneumonia and due to the pain was mumbling in his sleep which was interpreted as something else by those around.
Seeing his condition some villagers and relatives came to a conclusion that he was being possessed by an evil spirit and decided to take matters onto their own hands. On Saturday night, as the young man lay in pain from the illness, they reportedly brought a traditional medicine man (Oja) and began questioning him for several hours after covering him with a mosquito net to keep a check on the ‘spirit’.
“They believed that he was possessed and so they began to question him believing that it was not him but the spirit which was replying. He was left exhausted from the events and by early morning passed away. Their mistake was not taking him to a hospital,” said a village elder who spoke to this scribe and asked that he not be named.
The deceased was engaged and due to get married in a couple of months time.
Ignorance and belief in witchcraft is widely prevalent in many rural areas of Garo Hills. Four years ago, an entire family of a school teacher was murdered and buried in a shallow grave by villagers of Mrigre in Rongram region of west Garo Hills. The teacher and his parents were accused by a group of villagers of practicing sorcery but subsequent investigation pointed to greed for possession of their land by some unscrupulous villagers.