DOOMDOOMA, Oct 25 � Police resorted to lathicharge to disperse a crowd which blocked the National Higway 52 at Kakopathar this afternoon in protest against the death of a 13-year-old boy, Suraj Gowala at the Assam Medical College and Hospital at Dibrugarh this morning allegedly owing to a spell cast by three �witches�.
The protesters were demanding that the three �witches� be handed over to them. The situation is under control although tension prevails in the area.
Soon after the news of Suraj�s death spread, people of the tea estate came out with lethal weapons like dao, bows and arrows, lathis, etc., and blocked the National Highway 52 at Kakopathar.
It may be mentioned here that three women � Gangi Urang (58), Ratani Kondho (56) and Mala Bhumij (52) were tortured by some people of the Hatiduba Line of Koomsong tea estate on October 23 for allegedly practising witchcraft. Two local quacks � Nilmoni Moran and his assistant Santosh Dhanwar � had allegedly instigated these people to take action against those three women, holding them responsible for casting illness on Suraj. It may also be mentioned here that the three women were rescued by police and the boy sent to the AMCH for treatment the following morning.
