Assam cabinet approves bill to ban practices of 'magical healing'

Guwahati: In a significant development the Assam cabinet has decided to bring in a legislation to ban magical healing practices in the name of treatment. The state cabinet on Saturday approved Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024 by which 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 will prohibit and eliminate practices of magical healing in the name of treatment of some congenital diseases like deafness, dumbness, blindness, physical deformities, autism, etc.

The cabinet proposes strong punitive action against 'healers' extorting the poor and downtrodden people in the name of treatment. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma who chaired the cabinet meeting in a social media



post said, “It will prohibit such healing sessions completely and provide strong punitive action against the ‘healers’ extorting the poor and downtrodden people in the name of treatment."

Mr Sarma said the Cabinet has also decided to implement changes in the state municipal cadres, adding that it has chosen 10 cities or towns for a specific programme on sustainable development. A state-level steering committee will monitor the implementation of the concept. The cabinet approved reforms to the state municipal cadres, gave its nod to the creation of 352 new posts in the Assam Secretariat Service and decided to strengthen the Assam Village Defence Organisation. The cabinet, however, has not taken any decision on the anti-polygamy law or the UCC yet.