India must do more to tackle the practice of witch-branding among tribal communities, activists said on Monday following the murder of five women accused of sorcery.
The victims, aged 35 to 52, were dragged out of their rural homes in the eastern state of Jharkhand in the early hours of Saturday and beaten and stabbed to death by villagers who accused them of killing a youth.
Police have arrested 27 people following the attack, but activists said a string of similarly horrific killings this year shows an urgent need to tackle the root causes of the practice and enforce the law.