Indian witchdoctor beheads 5yo girl
source: ABC Australia
Posted 8 hours 31 minutes ago

A rural Indian witchdoctor beheaded a five-year-old girl as part of a bizarre ritual to help a villager produce healthy male heirs, police have said.

Vandana Kumari was murdered on Tuesday (local time) in Lakhimpur Kheri district, 200 kilometres from the Uttar Pradesh state capital Lucknow, police officer Ravi Srivastava said Thursday.

Occult practitioner Mewalal Chauhan recommended the "human sacrifice" when the child's neighbour Ram Niwas came to him for help, Mr Srivastava said.

"Ram Niwas had sons but none of them survived infancy. His brother too was ailing. The 'tantrik' Chauhan said a human sacrifice was necessary to get rid of these problems," he said.

The witchdoctor, his male assistant and Niwas lured the little girl into a field where Chauhan cut off her head after prayers and rituals, the police officer said.

Police said they recovered the child's headless body after her mother reported her missing, and had detained the three men.

Belief in black magic is common among superstitious rural Indians.

Many families in India value male heirs for their breadwinning potential, and sons are needed to light their parents' funeral pyres under Hindu rites.

- AFP