Dainigaon - The Witch Village of Assam

Dainigaon - The invisible 'witch village' in Assam

Close to Assam-Meghalaya border lies a village where people ostracised of being 'witches' live in harmony with nature.

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Khasipara is a revenue village in Goalpara district of Assam, having no official status and its can't be found in any government records. The hamlet is known as 'Dainigaon' (witch village).

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Dainigaon is a village that provides shelter to witch hunt victims

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The people here have been living here for many years along with over 15 families, who were banished from different villages in the Garo Hills district in Meghalaya and Goalpara in Assam

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Around 20 years ago, Lalmohan Rabha and Khenai Rabha, now in their 90s, were branded as witches and tortured and socially expelled by a group of people in the village.

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A village where superstitions and witchcraft ruled their everyday life, the Rabha couple have now left their scary past and haunting nightmares while forgiving all those who once tortured them, branding them as witches

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Raniswari, a resident of the same village was branded as a witch by a group of people and expelled from the village.

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Raniswari’s eyes swell up with tears at the memories of her own children and her village. Raniswari has left her village and is now working at a weaving centre in Kalyanpur in Goalpara.

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Over the years, hundreds of women have been ostracised from their villages, attacked, sexually assaulted, beaten up or killed in the name of witch hunting. Many cases of men being branded witches have also been reported. Some of these men and women have made Dainigaon their home.

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