India 'witch doctor' sentenced to death
Source: AFP |
April 17, 2013, Wednesday
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AN Indian "witch doctor" who beheaded an 11-year-old boy and offered the head as a sacrifice to a goddess to improve his fortunes has been sentenced to death.
A local court in impoverished Chhattisgarh state in central India convicted 32-year-old Dilip Rathia on Monday of murder and sentenced him to hang for beheading the boy.
"We proved the man beheaded the boy and his head was offered to the local goddess to obtain better luck," investigating officer Praful Thakur said.
The case, which highlights the persistence of occult beliefs in remote areas, came to light when police found the child's headless skeleton in the tribal-dominated village of Barpali.
Forensic tests proved the skeleton was that of an 11-year-old boy who disappeared in February 2012 while visiting a village fair, Thakur said.
Police, acting on a tip-off, raided the home of a man said by locals to be a "witch doctor" where they found the child's head.
The man was "practicing witchcraft" and "was convicted on charges of murder, hiding evidence and giving false information to conceal the offense," local police said yesterday.
Human sacrifices in deeply religious and superstitious India usually occur in poorer areas where some people fear and revere practitioners of so-called black magic.
The victims are ritually killed by witch doctors to please or appease deities.
A local court in impoverished Chhattisgarh state in central India convicted 32-year-old Dilip Rathia on Monday of murder and sentenced him to hang for beheading the boy.
"We proved the man beheaded the boy and his head was offered to the local goddess to obtain better luck," investigating officer Praful Thakur said.
The case, which highlights the persistence of occult beliefs in remote areas, came to light when police found the child's headless skeleton in the tribal-dominated village of Barpali.
Forensic tests proved the skeleton was that of an 11-year-old boy who disappeared in February 2012 while visiting a village fair, Thakur said.
Police, acting on a tip-off, raided the home of a man said by locals to be a "witch doctor" where they found the child's head.
The man was "practicing witchcraft" and "was convicted on charges of murder, hiding evidence and giving false information to conceal the offense," local police said yesterday.
Human sacrifices in deeply religious and superstitious India usually occur in poorer areas where some people fear and revere practitioners of so-called black magic.
The victims are ritually killed by witch doctors to please or appease deities.
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