As if there weren’t
enough reasons to inflict pain on women to show male dominance, murder due to
‘witchcraft’ is emerging as a significant crime in a few states in India. Many
women in these states are branded as ‘witches’ or as those ‘who practice the
art of black magic’. Once branded, they are tortured and battered. In many
cases, they are forced to eat their own excreta, gang-raped, and beaten to
death. Despite the fact that these crimes are as heinous as they sound, it is
shocking to learn that very little has been done by the government to curb this
menace. It is frightening to see that such a crime is tolerated even in these
modern times.
In India, this crime is
predominant in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana,
Jharkhand, Maharashtra, and Orissa. Such geographic variation suggests that
this crime is not contained to a particular region of the country. Together,
these six states account for a staggering 82% of all witchcraft related murders
in India in the last decade.The highest incident of this crime in the last
decade has been in Andhra Pradesh with total murders amounting to 323. States
in close steps with Andhra Pradesh are Jharkhand (316) and Orissa (290).
The
prevalence of these murders was brought to light recently by the murder of
anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar. His murder has sparked debate
about immediate need for astute legislation and effective enforcement.
Witchcraft has its roots in ancient belief and superstition. Even with strong
laws, it will not be easy to gain compliance and hence, corrective steps and
measures such as education must be taken to ensure that innocent women do not
become victims of these beliefs. For example, states such as Bihar, Jharkhand,
Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh have already enacted laws to restrict black magic
but these states have been fairly unsuccessful in containing this menace. The
change has to come at a community level. There is an urgent need for the
government to launch a nationwide campaign against witch hunting. Workshops
should be organized to educate people and make them realize that witch hunt is
a serious crime.
Article written by Mohammed Wasil, a Research Analyst and Volunteer at Zerocrime
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