An Adivasi couple was brutally assaulted and subsequently set on fire inside their home in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of practising witchcraft.

Police said they came to know about the incident around 8.30pm on Tuesday, adding that Gardi Birowa, 43, and his wife Mira Birowa, 33, were first attacked and then “burnt alive” in No. I Munda Gaon under Howraghat police station late on Tuesday afternoon for allegedly practising witchcraft.

Initial reports suggest many villagers were involved in the attack, but no arrests were made till Wednesday evening, police said. There are more than 180 residents in the remote village, about 67km from the district headquarters.

“Such incidents happen because of remoteness and lack of education and awareness. We are in the process of identifying those involved. Investigation is under way,” said a police official.

A couple of villagers told mediapersons that they attacked the couple because they were “practising” witchcraft and bringing “misfortune to the village”.

Sources said the villagers first called the couple, who were daily wage labourers, for a meeting to question them about their involvement in witchcraft and then launched the assault. “The villagers then took them to their house, about 100m away, and set
them on fire.”

“It is distressing. We get to hear about one or two witch-hunting cases every year from remote and villages which are not developed,” a source said.

The incident has turned the spotlight on government efforts to check the social menace.

The Assam Assembly had on August 13, 2025, unanimously passed the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Bill, 2015, making witch-hunting a cognisable, non-bailable and non-compoundable offence in Assam.

Those convicted under the Act face between seven year to life imprisonment along with a fine of up to ₹5 lakh for calling a person a witch, among others.

Since witch-hunting cases have dipped but not eradicated, the state government on May 6 this year notified a policy to combat human trafficking and witch-hunting, a move “to safeguard human rights and uphold dignity”.

At least 32 witch-hunting cases were registered between 2022 and 2024, prompting the Assam government “to develop a well-designed comprehensive policy to cover all areas of intervention, ensuring prevention, protection and rehabilitation of survivors of trafficking and witch-hunting”.

Most Assam districts, especially areas with tribal population, report witch-hunting cases. The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and Bodoland Territorial Council areas, among others, are affected by such cases.