A village chief in Meghalaya's East Khasi Hills district and two other office bearers, involved in forcing an alleged witchcraft practitioner to eat human excreta, were today arrested hours after they surrendered , police said.
"We have arrested the head of Mawryngkang village,his deputy and the secretary of the village after they surrendered," District Superintendent of Police M Kharkrang told PTI.
He said, the three had evaded arrest when a police team had gone to the village to secure their arrest but early today they surrendered at his office.
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Kharkrang said the trio have been booked under relevant sections of the law for violating human rights and cases against them were registered at Pynursla PS.
Noping Khongsit, a resident of the Mawryngkang village near Pynursla, about 50 km from here, was penalised by members of his own village council on the grounds that he and his family were practising witchcraft.
Khongsit was forced to eat human excreta based on allegation of four girls that they were suffering from unusual diseases, which villagers alleged Khongsit as the culprit.
Mawryngkang assistant village chief, Thwer Tynsong, admitted to have forcefully punished Khongsit but defended that it was a unanimous decision of the villagers to impose such inhumane punishment on Khongsit.