THOSE responsible for burning a young woman alive in a Papua New Guinea town after she was accused of sorcery will be caught and punished, police say. Twenty-year-old Kepari Leniata was stripped naked, tortured with a hot iron rod, bound, doused in petrol and set on fire on a rubbish heap in the Western Highlands town of Mt Hagen on Wednesday. Police say she was accused of sorcery by relatives of a six-year-old boy who died in Mt Hagen hospital the day before. "It's an ongoing problem and has been in the spotlight for some time now," PNG police spokesman Dominic Kakas told AAP. Right now you can't try any sorcery claims in court, but it is part of PNG culture and people do die because of it. We need an outlet or avenue to address sorcery allegations. People believe it's something that exists, but it's a crime. People will have to be arrested. It's a crime. Mr Kakas said Police Commissioner Tom Kulunga is expected to make a statement later in the day. Both of PNG's national newspapers carried the story on its front page with the headline "Burnt Alive" accompanied by a picture of a burning mass on a rubbish heap surrounded by a crowd of onlookers - including children. Amidst the smoke and the flame, burning tyres can be seen along with people taking pictures on their mobile phones. Comment is being sought from provincial authorities. Both the Post Courier and The National Newspaper report Ms Leniata, from Enga Province, was one of three women accused of sorcery and interrogated by the attackers. Belief in sorcery is still widespread in rural PNG - where distinctions are made between good and bad magic. PNG's sorcery act dates back to before 1975, when the nation was a colony of Australia. The law acknowledges the widespread belief in sorcery and tries to regulate it - however the courts have increasingly backed away from sorcery cases. The UN's special rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, in March last year made a blistering assessment of the treatment of women in PNG, finding two-thirds of females in relationships have experienced domestic violence. Following a week-long visit, Ms Manjoo said sorcery allegations were usually used as a way of depriving women of land and property, while misfortune or death were used as a reason for the accusation. "I was informed that sorcery-related violence is commonly perpetrated by young men or boys who act under orders for other members in the community," Ms Manjoo told the BBC at the time. They commonly do so under the influence of drugs or alcohol, which is provided by such persons.