Guwahati, India - A woman and her daughter were attacked by a mob and their decapitated bodies thrown into a river in Assam in northeastern India for allegedly practicing witchcraft, officials said on Tuesday.
A police spokesman said a group about 20 tribal people late on Sunday forcibly took away a 60-year-old Bodo tribal woman and her daughter from their village in Jarbari, 280 km west of Assam's main city of Guwahati.
"The mob then lynched the mother and daughter with sharp weapons and then threw their decapitated bodies into a river. We are yet to recover the bodies," a senior police official said.
Police arrested eight people suspected to have been in the mob that killed the two women.
"The attack was ghastly with their heads chopped off by the mob," the official said. Police later recovered the severed heads from near the riverbank.
"Initial reports indicate the mother and daughter duo were suspected to be practicing sorcerers who had cast evil spells on villagers through their black magic, prompting a group within the village to eliminate them," the official said.
Superstitious beliefs, black magic and demonology are integral to tribal custom in parts of Assam, Tripura and other northeast Indian states. Several tribal communities practice indigenous faiths, believed to be a mix of black magic and superstition, which are used to treat ailments or cast evil spells on adversaries.
At least 200 people have been killed by rural mobs in the past five years for allegedly practicing witchcraft in the northeast.
Assam Police have intensified their special drive to curb this social crime. Codenamed Project Prahari (Project Vigilant), the crusade includes community policing measures, besides regular awareness campaigns among tribal chiefs and village elders.