In a major decision, the Assam Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, approved the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil Practices) Bill, 2024 on February 10.
Assam Government To Ban ‘Magical Healing’
CM Sarma emphasized deterrent penalties for individuals engaging in harmful ‘magical healing’ practices. “It will prohibit such healing sessions completely and provide strong punitive action against ‘healers’ extorting the poor and downtrodden people in the name of treatment,” he wrote on microblogging platform X.
Addressing the media, PHED Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah said through this bill, any person found guilty of committing the illegal act in the name of treatment/magic healing shall be punished with imprisonment and a fine.
The proposed bill seeks to prohibit and eliminate practices of magical healing in the name of treatment of some congenital diseases like deafness, dumbness, blindness, physical deformities, autism etc.
