ATROCIOUS WITCH HUNTING ATTACKS IN INDIA-Regulating witchcraft through law

Moderator:Sameer
Discussants:Muskan Bhatia and Nidhi Bajaj
Rapporteur:Shridhar Goyal

“If we call a woman a witch once.... you just become a living corpse, you are nothing more than that”
Background

Many people in the past have been tortured and executed because of the belief in the malevolent witchcraft.
Even the great Joan of Arc who led France to victory against the British was burnt alive at the age of 19 for the
stake of witchcraft. In the past, the midwives were accused of the crime of witchcraft and were made to admit it
by subjecting them to torture.Witchcraft is the practice and belief in magical skills and abilities and the one who
practices or professes witchcraft is called a witch or wizard.Witch hunting is the wicked practice where the
women alleged of causing detrimental influences are branded as ‘witches’ by Ojhas (witch doctor/tantriks)or
community people and are thereafter hounded,banished,flogged,raped,paraded naked through the village,,forced
to eat human excreta,balded,thrashed and murdered. The reports of National Crime Bureau 2015 report that 2290
such women were hunted in India between 2001 and 2014. This evil practice is believed to be emanated in India
in the Morigaon district of Assam known as the ‘Indian capital of blackmagic’.

The incidents of witch hunting are prominent in Assam,Bihar,Chhattisgarh,Gujarat,Haryana Jharkhand,Madhya

Pradesh,Maharashtra,Orissa,Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.Mostly all cases involve women(low
caste women living in tribal, backward areas) as targets which is the reason why the practice is called witch
hunting and not wizard hunting .This tradition of blaming women for every wrong that happens is not new to the
patriarchal society of India.The main causes behind this violent practice include belief in superstition,caste
system and financial dependency of women on men.

Highlights

There are several international,national and regional laws in place for prevention and eradication of violence
against women including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable
Instruments Act),1954 and laws for prevention of witch hunting- the Prevention of Witch (Dayan) Practices
Act,1999,Bihar;The Assam Witch Hunting(Prohibition, Prevention and Protection Act) 2015 etc.However laws
in this regard are relatively new. Criminalisation of witchcraft and associated offences is partial justice only
unless and until other forms of redress are also available. Many cases of witch hunting are not reported or very
few incidents are reported due to geographical reasons and societal pressure and that too after a long gap which
makes the witness testimony unreliable.This served as a ground for not convicting the accused in the case of
Madhu Munda vs State of Bihar 1 .Also,The Calcutta HC has observed that the motive of witch hunting is
engrained in psyche and judicial execution will not help in such cases2.

1
2003 JCR 156 Jhr
2
State of West Bengal v. Kali Singh and Ors. on October4,2003 with Cr. Appeal no. 380 and 381 of 2016
Issue

1. Why is witch hunting still thriving after the enactment of anti-witch hunting laws in several
States?
2. Is there a need for a Central law for eradication of this inhuman practice and whether
criminalisation of witchcraft and associated practices is the only solution to this problem?
Suggested readings:
Articles

 The Academic Journey of Witchcraft study in India

 Indiatoday.in (Over 2000 women killed in India for practicing black magic in 14 years)
 blogscc.online.com- “Witch hunting is the worst form of Human Rights violation”
 www.academia.edu – Do we need special laws: Witch hunting in India
 AncientOrigins.net ( 31st January,2019 Article on witch hunt)
 Times of India-Article on Witch Hunting ,July 17,2018
 Witch hunting-Livelaw.in(2017-10-31)
 Contemporary practices of witch hunting- a report on Social Trend and the interface with
law,2013

Case laws
 Madhu Munda v. State of Bihar (2003) JCR 156

 State of West Bengal v. Kali Singh and Ors. on October 4,2003 with Cr. Appeal no. 380 and 381
of 2016