OneWorld South Asia
Home > News
> http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/archive/1893

Search for

OneWorld Network Africa Canada South Asia
SouthEast Europe
UK United States Austria Finland Italy Latin America Netherlands Spain AIDSChannel Digital
Opportunity Kids Channel
LearningChannel

NEWS

IN DEPTH

PARTNERS

GET INVOLVED

OUR NETWORK

14 July 2007

MDG Themes

Poverty
& Hunger

Education

Gender

Health

Environment

Global
Partnerships

MDG plus

Social
Justice

Millennium
Campaign

Governance

OWSA's Areas of Work

Grassroots
Communication

Knowledge
for Development

Research
and Analysis

Policy
Advocacy

Capacity
Building

OWSA Publications

Mainstreaming
ICTs

Ekam
Lokam

Other
Publications

About OWSA

History

Mission
& Profile

Trustees

Strategic
Partners

Contact
Us

In Depth

Topic
Guides

Country
Guides

Get Involved

Events

Event
Calendar

Campaigns

Partners

About
Partnership

OWSA
Partners

Join
us!

About
Us    Contact
Us

Bill to stop witch hunting in India

Kalyan
Singh Kothari

13 July 2007

The increasing graph of crimes against women under
the pretext of them being witches has compelled some states in
India to formulate necessary legislation against this
appalling practice. The existing laws have not been able to
neither tackle these vicious crimes nor create fear in the
minds of perpetrators.

The first among three states to
have formulated the Anti Witchcraft Act is Bihar. The Bihar
government passed a law in 1999 called the Prevention of Witch
(dayan) Practices Act, 1999. Jharkhand followed it with the
Anti Witchcraft Act in 2001.

The NGO Free Legal Aid
Committee (FLAC) based in Jharkhand runs a campaign against
this practice. It also provides support to women accused of
being witches and their children. FLAC’s campaign also
includes awareness and legal literacy through street plays,
publications, documentation through films, etc., which
prompted the passing of the bill in Bihar. The Chhattisgarh
Tonhi Pratarna Bill 2005 (Chhatisgarh Prevention of atrocities
on women in the name of Tonhi) was formulated in July 2005.

In Rajasthan, the State Commission for Women submitted
a draft bill in 2006 to the state government for stopping the
branding of women as witches. The bill once passed will arm
the government in checking witch hunt related crimes.
Spokesperson of the Rajasthan Women Commission told this
correspondent that the draft Act is under consideration. The
legal department has suggested some amendments in the draft
Act, which are been looked into by legal experts.

The
proposed Act provides for imprisonment of 2-10 years for those
who violate the Act. The Act also specifies that if a woman
commits suicide because of being accused a witch or is
ill-treated by the members of society or her family, the
persons found guilty would be liable for life imprisonment.

Branding women

The witch hunt is a
common occurrence in certain states of India. The highest
incidences have been reported from Rajasthan, Gujarat, Assam,
West Bengal, Bihar, Maharastra, Andra Pradesh and Orissa.

According to official figures 2,556 women were branded
as witches and killed in India between 1987 and 2003 (Religion
news blog.com, July 2004). From 1991 to 2000, over 522 cases
of witch hunting have been registered in Bihar alone.

People from different regions use different names, for
instance, dakan, dayan, banamati, chetabadi, chillangi, hawa
or evil eye, dahani, tonhi, etc. The names may be different
but the practice seems to take a more or less similar form. In
Rajasthan, the local name for the witch is dakan or dayan; the
dakan is always a living woman, quite unlike a churel, a dead
women who manifests herself as an evil force.

It is
believed that the dakan has a capacity to harm others by the
‘evil eye’, evil words or sometimes by simply praising
anything. Women who are old, widowed, or unprotected are
regarded as more likely to be dakans than others.

Such
dayan brandings have produced an atmosphere of violence and
its various related heinous forms impacting women’s psyche and
well-being. Women are often locked up in their homes and not
permitted to interact with other people, leading to feelings
of helplessness, fear and powerlessness.

Exposed to
fear and helplessness

In a case identified in
Jodhpur district Sugi Devi Sansi of Tinwari village was held
prisoner in her house for ten long years. As recently as
November 28, 2004, 70 years old Dhoopi Raigar, a resident of
Jita Ka Dalda in Tonk district was forcibly dragged out of her
son’s house by some of the residents of the same village
belonging to the Bairwa community. They then cut off her hair
and also attempted to immolate her.

The reason:
her son was constructing the second floor of his house. They
were jealous of the fact that a lower caste family was
becoming increasingly prosperous and in order to prevent this
accused Dhoopi of being a dayan.

Memki Bai Bhajaat of
Varlipahada village and Sakri Bai Meena of Sailana village of
Udaipur district were branded dakans due to property dispute
with some of their relatives. Both have been facing violence
over long periods of time and live in a continual state of
fear. Memki keeps a knife and Sakri keeps an axe and bow and
arrows to protect her against future onslaught.

Lajwanti Harijan of village Kamolar of Kota district
was declared a dayan by Aziz Khan of the same village owing to
some dispute. After this, other villagers began holding
Lajwanti responsible for all mishaps in the village. She is
given whatever she demands since it is believed that if her
wishes and demands are denied she may cause trouble. Children
are asked to stay away from her. Being a low caste, Lajwanti
and her family feel helpless against the accusations leveled
against her.

These are not solitary examples. Such
distressing cases of atrocities against so called dayans are
perpetrated almost everywhere. The victims are forbidden from
participating in auspicious occasions, are socially
ostracized, restricted from moving out, forced to lead a life
of penury, often facing wrath of family members. There is also
change in their residential status, loss of mental balance,
loss of life, and displacement from traditional occupations.

The roots of cruelty

Superstition is
often the chief reason. This factor is strongly linked to the
lack of medical care and awareness in rural areas. In absence
of health care facilities, there is exploitation by ‘ojhas’ or
witch doctors who profit from the villagers’ ignorance.

Land grabbing, property disputes and revenge are other
major causes behind such accusations in most states. The above
examples reflect that such labeling has become a common form
of violence against women. It is now a pretext for suppressing
women and gaining personal interests.

In many backward
districts of Rajasthan, such as Dungarpur, Banswara, Kota,
Udaipur, Tonk, Chittorgarh and Bhilwara, it has been observed
that women who are mentally ill or show abnormal behaviour are
often branded as witches and ill treated by society.

Documenting violence

Jaipur based
Institute of Development Studies conducted a study to provide
an in-depth understanding of the local custom of such
branding, analysing the major causes behind and the forms of
violence meted out to the women dakans. The study was
supported by USAID and was conducted under the guidance of
Professor Kanchan Mathur.

Mathur has about 20 years of
experience in research, training, consultancy and advocacy
issues related to gender and development in India. She said
the lack of modern health care leads people to depend on ojhas
or spirit diviners for remedies.

Six districts were
selected across three regions: Tonk, Bhilwara, Ajmer and
Bharatpur district in the plain region, Jodhpur district in
the desert and Udaipur district in the tribal region. A total
of 63 cases were documented to provide a broad insight.

According to the study, detailed profiles of women
survivors reveal that highest incidence of dayans take place
in the age group of 41 to 55 years. The reason is that women
in this age group have acquired an assertive position in the
family and society, having dispensed with their reproductive
roles.

The study also highlights that poor, low caste
women are easy targets, with a majority of them belonging to
the SC/OBC and ST castes. The marital status of the women
interviewed shows single women, i.e., widows or separated
women are more likely to be labeled as witches.

In a
majority of cases the women were subjected to verbal abuse and
physical torture as long as they lived and in some instances,
even murdered. The duration of violence faced by the women
ranged from 2 years to more than 20 years, the study reveals.

In analyzing the causes, superstition emerged as the
main cause. Other reasons were land/property disputes,
infertility and childlessness, deformities and challenges of
caste rivalry and often the assertive nature of women.

The study finds that a majority of women did not feel
confident to approach the police despite the violence meted
out to them. The state machinery such as police, judiciary,
PRIs, NGOs, media and caste panchayats have been largely
ineffective in preventing this practice. The prime reason has
been the absence of an Anti Witchcraft Act in the state.

Women do not have easy accessibility to these
institutions, as they are patriarchal in nature and
approaching them requires a lot of courage on the part of
women. Most of the victims, being illiterate and economically
and socially vulnerable, compound the problem.

There
is a current need to take a close look at the existing laws
and procedures of investigation, and the actions relating to
trials in court, to see what can be done to provide a real
deterrent to the unscrupulous elements. More than legislative
changes, a real shift in the attitude of people is a must to
overcome this practice.

E-mail- mailto:[email-masked]?subject=

User comments
There are no comments

Login

Join
OneWorld

Printable version

Back to top

OneWorld thematic channels and collaborative projects
include:

About
OneWorld