The Gauhati High Court today directed the Assam government to make offences committed against victims of witch hunting as cognisable and special along with other provisions of IPC.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice (Acting) K Shreedhar Rao and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said the provisions should be such that the police are aware of them and arrest all witch doctors who incite such offence. They should be tried for abetment and arrested.
Asking the government to tackle such offenders seriously, the court also said that the steps taken by the state till date have not prevented killings in the name of witch hunting.
It asked Home Secretary G D Tripathi to apprise the steps taken to control the menace of witch hunting in the state.
Tripathy assured the court that the killings in the name of witch hunting would be included in the proposed new legislation Assam Organised Crime Act, which will be shortly given effect to.
The next date for hearing of the case was fixed for December 6.
Senior advocate Bhaskar Dev Konwar appeared for the petitioner of the PIL, while advocate B J Ghosh appeared for Assam government, Suman Shyam for the Legal Services Authority of Assam and B K Sharma for the Social Welfare Department.
