Bihar— In a heart-wrenching incident, a woman belonging to the Dalit community was burnt alive after being branded as a witch in the Purnea district of Bihar, the police said to local media.

Before being burnt alive, Ramvati, woman in her late 70s was beaten mercilessly for "practising witchcraft" a police official said.

The official further informed that a case was lodged against six accused and four others on the statement of victim's daughter-in-law. Informing about the actions taken in the case, he said that one of the accused has been arrested

According to police records, the unbridled practice of branding of women as witches and beating them has persisted through the years and in the past two years, 250 women have been tortured and beaten on suspicion of practising witchcraft.