Guwahati (Assam) [India], February 11 (HBTV): To stop ‘magical healing’ in the name of treatment, the Assam cabinet has approved the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024.   

Announcing the decisions of the Cabinet’s meeting that was conducted at the Lok Sewa Bhawan in Guwahati on Saturday evening, Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Malla Baruah said the state Cabinet has approved the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil) Practices Bill, 2024, to provide relief to victims of ‘magical treatment’ in the name of treatment. 

"If any person is found guilty of committing the illegal act in the name of treatment or magic healing, they will be punished with imprisonment and a fine,” Baruah said.     

‘The proposed bill seeks to prohibit and eliminate practices of magical healing in the name of treating congenital diseases like deafness, dumbness, blindness, physical deformities, autism, etc. It will prohibit such healing sessions completely and provide strong punitive action against practitioners extorting from the poor and downtrodden people in the name of treatment,’ Baruah said. 

The state cabinet also approved establishing the Wildlife Safari & Rescue Centre in Namdang Reserved Forest in Dibrugarh district at an estimated project cost of INR 259 crore to provide rescue and rehabilitation services for the fauna of the region.

The state cabinet also approved the Village Defense Organization (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the bill for amendment of the Assam Municipal Act, 1956.

Further, the Assam cabinet approved the creation of 352 posts in the Assam Secretariat Service and the Assam Secretariat Subordinate Service.    

(ANI)  This story has been edited for clarity and brevity.