--- description: More than 100 women have been killed in witch hunts in the eastern Indian state of Assam in the past six years. title: Woman Accused of Witchcraft and Beheaded in Assam, India image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # A Woman in India Has Been Beheaded by Mob Who Accused Her of Being a Witch by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2015 7:35 AM CUT by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2015 7:35 AM CUT A 63-year-old woman in India was [beheaded](http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/women-labelled-witch-beheaded-by-mob-in-assam-village-783453?utm%5Fsource=ndtv&utm%5Fmedium=top-stories-widget&utm%5Fcampaign=story-2-http%3a%2f%2fwww.ndtv.com%2findia-news%2fwomen-labelled-witch-beheaded-by-mob-in-assam-village-783453 "undefined") Monday after a mob of more than 200 people accused her of witchcraft. The incident took place at a village in the eastern state of Assam, Indian broadcaster NDTV reported. Seven people have been arrested for the lynching, which occurred after the woman was dragged out of her house and attacked. According to Samad Hussain, the village’s additional superintendent of police, a younger woman named Anima Ronghanti who “claims to be a goddess” asked people to gather at a local temple. She then told the crowd that 63-year-old Poni Orang, a mother of five and member of the Adivasi tribe, was a witch who would bring bad luck to the village. “The mob rushed into Orang’s house and dragged her out, took her to a nearby stream, almost stripped her naked and beheaded her in broad daylight,” Hussain said. Ronghanti, her husband and her sister have been taken into police custody along with four others. Witch hunts in various parts of India are a common occurrence, with more than 100 women killed in witch hunts in Assam in the past six years. The state is planning to introduce legislation to make it illegal to brand a woman as a witch. \[[_NDTV_](http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/women-labelled-witch-beheaded-by-mob-in-assam-village-783453?utm%5Fsource=ndtv&utm%5Fmedium=top-stories-widget&utm%5Fcampaign=story-2-http%3a%2f%2fwww.ndtv.com%2findia-news%2fwomen-labelled-witch-beheaded-by-mob-in-assam-village-783453 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3965491/woman-beheaded-witch-hunt-india-assam/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3965491/woman-beheaded-witch-hunt-india-assam/"},"headline":"A Woman in India Has Been Beheaded by Mob Who Accused Her of Being a Witch","datePublished":"2015-07-21T07:35:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:25:16.163Z","description":"More than 100 women have been killed in witch hunts in the state of Assam in the past six years","url":"https://time.com/3965491/woman-beheaded-witch-hunt-india-assam/","keywords":["India","Assam","Mob","woman"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3965491/woman-beheaded-witch-hunt-india-assam/","name":"A Woman in India Has Been Beheaded by Mob Who Accused Her of Being a Witch"}}]}] ```