India - Witchcraft
Witchcraft is the belief in magical practices, and the person who does this practice is known as a witch or wizard. Hunting or killing of these wizards or witches is known as witch-hunting. Accusation of witchcraft and killing the accused witches had been a part of the history of rural India. Evidences has been made clear by the National Crime Record Bureau that, in India, each year there is about 200 women killed as witches in rural India. The practice of witch-hunting — the persecution, often until death, of women accused of being witches — has persisted in India since pre-colonial times. The practice stems from the belief that these women are the source of misfortunes such as serious illness, loss of property and even death.
One common thing in most cultures and societies is that witchcraft is seen as something evil and harmful. Witch doctors are the people, who usually brand a woman or man as witch or Daini in cases where there are issues of draught, flood, illness, death of the people of particular locality. The traditional belief in witchcraft is a magico-religious practice, at one point of time or other that was prevalent among most of the ethnic communities of the world. It is related to the traditional belief that the person, who is suspected to be practicing witchcraft, causes harm to his or her community through abuse of magical power.
There are some states where witch-hunting is prevalent among some ethnic groups since from the twentieth century. Though not legally permitted, finding out witches is an established process for most of the villages that still has this practice. Practice of witch-hunting is prominent mostly among the people living in rural areas, particularly among the peasants.
In pre-Colonial India, belief in witchcraft, demoniacal possession, the transmutation of metals, the efficacy of charms, spells, and love-filtres, is quite general amongst all classes of the people. he genius of Hinduism was peculiarly favourable to a belief in witchcraft and demoniacal possession, but the traditional Hindu thoughts that magic with other useful lore were not without a certain respectability. The Brahmans themselves are the possessors of spells (mantras) which even the gods are unable to resist. It is true that in the Vishnu Purana it is said "he who practises magic rites for the harm of others will be punished in the hell called Krimisa" (that of insects). But this threat is neither generally known nor does it practically affect the attitude of the people towards wizards and necromancers. The practisers of the black art in India may be objects of terror to the people, but they do not inspire them with feelings of religious horror.
According to popular belief, magicians, sorcerers, and conjurers abound in India. Most of the calamities of life were attributed to them, and it is worth noting that among certain of the aboriginal tribes even those who were accused of being witches do not deny the impeachment, but accept the position readily with all its pains and penalties. Yet the evil was not without a remedy, for sorcerer may be pitted against sorcerer, and the spells of one be nullified by the counter-spells of another. Thus also in Europe, holy water, church ceremonies, consecrated relics, and priestly exorcism were employed against sorcery, witchcraft and demoniacal possession. The more powerful conjurers in India inspired dread and command respect. These, therefore, live at ease on the credulity of the many, but occasionally the popular vengeance is wreaked upon some wretched man or woman who is suspected of having caused mischief, and who at the same time is not sufficiently dreaded to hold the rabble in check.
The first witch-hunting in India was recorded by the Britishers among the Santhals in the year 1792. Santals exhibit a strong belief in the magical powers of witches and spirits whose evil influence could be detected and undone by their benign counterparts, "ojhas" (medicine men). While being rid of the evil influence of spirits often involves offerings and sacrifices, the only remedy for the witches’ influence was the removal of the witches themselves.
In the year 1802, a self-constituted native tribunal tried five women at Patna for sorcery, found them guilty, and put them to death. The case attracted the attention of the British authorities, and a proclamation was issued by the Governor-General, declaring that any persons taking upon themselves to act as the members of the irregular Patna tribunal had done, would be considered guilty of murder. This order had the effect of saving the lives of a great many women who would otherwise have fallen victims to the popular belief in witches and witchcraft, yet since the date of the proclamation thousands upon thousands must have perished in out-of-the-way places, at the hands of their superstitious countrymen, with the knowledge and connivance of the equally superstitious village police.
During the struggles against the Britishers in 1857–58, there was a marked increase in incidents of witch-hunting. Prior to 1857 the Britishers had made concerted efforts to bring an end to the practice of witch-hunting, which they saw as barbaric, and outlawed in several places. In Chhotanagpur, the practice of witchcraft and "sokhaism" were banned in the 1930s, and a hospital was also set up in the hope of discouraging the belief in magic by treating illness with modern medicine.
These efforts did not sit well with the Adivasis and instead fostered the belief that witches were flourishing under Britisher rule. Thus, during the disturbances of 1857, they took the opportunity to rid themselves of the witches that had accumulated in their midst. As was the case in Europe, witches were mostly poor working-class women, old and widowed. And their accusers were often the medical men whose incomes were threatened by these witches. Among the Santhals these were the affluent ojhas.
Recently, cases of witch-branding have been reported from 12 states in India. About 2,300 murders of so-called ‘witches’ were committed country-wide between 1999 and 2013. Odisha reported 99, 83 and 58 cases of witch-branding in 2017, 2016 and 2015 respectively even after enacting its Witch Hunting Act of 2013. A law against witch hunting has been in force since 2001. However, the state still tops the list of witch-hunting deaths from 2013-2016. Some 523 women were lynched on the suspicion of practicing witchcraft from 2001-2016 in the state. But many cases have unfortunately gone unreported and escaped the public glare.
No federal law addressed accusations of witchcraft. Authorities may use other legal provisions as an alternative for an individual accused of witchcraft. The NCRB reported 68 deaths with witchcraft listed as the motive in 2021. Madhya Pradesh registered 18 cases of killings against those accused of witchcraft. Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Assam, and Jharkhand have laws criminalizing accusing others of witchcraft.
In August 2015 the Assam state legislature unanimously passed a law making “witch-hunting” a criminal offense. In recent times, this social-evil of witch-hunting has raised its ugly head in Assam following recent incidents of killing of innocent people in the name of witch hunting particularly among the Adivasis, Bodos, Mishings, Rabhas and some other communities. In Assam every year mostly women have been branded as witches, tortured and often killed by mobs. In Assam a large number of Bej or Ojha, Kabiraj are often involved themselves in curing the village people who makes a living by providing medication to the villagers from several diseases.
Assam, like many other parts across the country, often witnesses deaths, injuries, and miseries resulting from witch hunting, an atrocious practice and a socially sanctioned violence. This phenomenon seems to be more rampant among the Adivasi and Bodo community. Assam fact file from Gauhati High court report shows that there are 85 witch-hunting cases between 2008 and 2014 and 132 deaths between 2002 and 2012. Reiterated incidents of killings in the name of witch-hunting have alarmingly challenged the laws and have led to various anti-witch hunting programs. Often veiled under superstition, the factors that render this social menace unabated is a matter of grave concern for every conscious mind.
The Assam Witch Hunting {Prohibition, Prevention and Protection} Act, 2015, applied to any "abetlor or identifier" who identifies, calls, stigmatizes, defames or accuses any other person as witch ar instigates, aids or abets such an act, by words, or by signs or indications or by conducts, aids in instigating any other person or does anything which tend to cause any person any harm or causes anything which gives reasonable apprehension of stigmatieation in the mind of such person so identified, called, stigmatised, defamed or accused that there may be harm caused to him/her, or that his/her dignity or public estimation is damaged or likely to be damaged.
A "witch" means any person who has been supposedly identified, called, stigmatized, defamed or accused as Daini, Daina, Dakini, Dakan, Bhoot, Bhootuni, or any other such name by person or persons under the grip of unrealistic and unfounded impression that such person has the power to harm anyone or society at large, in any manner. And "witch hunting" means the identifying, calling, stigmatising, defaming or accusing any person as witch by any other person by words, or by signs or by indications or conduct or actions or in any manner, thereby causing or abetting physical and/or mental harm or execution of a witch which may invoive mass hysteria, lynching or any other activities.
The act penalizes whoever, identifying, calling, stigmatizing, defaming or accusing any person as witch, subjects that person to any forms of torture including acts of stoning, hanging, stabbing, dragging, public heatings, burns, cutting/burning of hair, forced hair shavings, pulling of teeth out, cutting of nose ar other body-parts, blackening of face, whipping, branding with hot objects or use of any other blunt or sharp weapons or objects, or who forces that person to perforrn public acts of humiliation or to eat human excrement or to drink urine or to drink or eat inedible or obnoxious substances or to socially ostracize or to stigmatize for life or to prohibit to participate in auspicious occasions, to curtail movements and employment or subjects him/her to taunts, slurs and other verbal abuses.
Stories involving magic or supernatural abilities are common in Indian folklore, but these do not always map neatly onto Western ideas about witches and witchcraft. Witchcraft is generally not mainstream within the major religions in India, such as Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Still, local beliefs about witches, spirits, and the supernatural can vary widely across different regions and communities. Although not unique to India — similar phenomena occur in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and other regions — the problem of witch hunts has particular social and cultural dimensions in the Indian context. Various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and social activists work to educate people about the lack of basis for witch hunts, aiming to dismantle the superstitions that fuel these actions.
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