The belief that a sorcery spirit jumps from one female to the other, was the reason behind the recent brutal torture of female child in Enga Province.
The girl, believed to be five years old, had accompanied her father to Tukusanda village when rumours of sorcery or sanguma spread because the girl's mother was the late Leniata Kepari, who was accused of practicing sorcery and burnt alive in 20-13 in Mt Hagen, Western Highlands Province.
Enga's Acting Provincial Police Commander, Epenes Nili said when the villagers learnt that she was Leniata's daughter; they assumed she also possessed the sanguma spirit.
Commander Nili said the girl was taken captive sometime between Sunday November 12 and Monday November 13, and tortured.
He said the girl's father was also under heavy guard by the villagers and his mobile phone confiscated.
Help came when some locals alerted authorities.
The child was rescued on Thursday by the Papua New Guinea Tribal Foundation and Lutheran missionary Anton Lutz.
She is now receiving treatment in hospital for burns she sustained from bush knives that were heated in fire placed all over her body.