NEW DELHI, Jan 3 (TrustLaw) - Two farmers in India have been arrested for killing a 7-year-old girl and removing her liver in a tribal sacrifice for a good harvest, the Times of India reported on Tuesday.
The two men from India's central state of Chhattisgarh kidnapped the young girl called Lalita and strangled her. They then removed her liver, offered it at a temple and buried the rest of her body, according to the report.
"Two farmers, Padam Sukku and Pignesh Kujur, have been arrested for killing the girl, Lalita, in anticipation of good crops," B.P.S. Rajbhanu, additional superintendependent of police in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district was quoted as saying.
Trapped between Maoist insurgents and security forces for decades, tribal communities living in the mineral-rich, yet impoverished regions like Chhattisgarh, have for centuries eked out a meagre living from the forests they live in.
Due to low literacy levels, lack of infrastructure and poverty, they have lived a relatively isolated life, where some communities believe in traditional healers and witchdoctors who advise poor, illiterate villagers to sacrifice young girls for wealth or good health.
