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Witch-Hunting: A Social Ill Law Alone Cannot Fight
The recent torture and violent killing of a 40-year old woman in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district who was accused of being a witch is not an isolated incident. Witch-hunts are a common practice in many parts of the country and the problem of violence perpetrated against women in the guise of ‘witch-hunting’ is an extremely serious one. A ‘witch’ (dayan, chudail or tohni) is perceived as a person, mostly a female, who is capable of performing black magic or sorcery and thus cause harm to another person or family. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), India’s nodal agency for the collation of countrywide crime statistics, 2,097 murders committed between 2000 and 2012 were ‘witch-hunt’ murders. Moreover, many witch-hunting cases remain unreported due to inaccessibility and remoteness of places where these crimes are being committed.
While we have largely come to recognise sexual violence against women as a grave threat, we are yet to acknowledge the violence perpetrated in the guise of witch-hunting as gender-based violence. In its report on Contemporary Practices of Witch-Hunting (2014), Partners for Law in Development, a legal resource group working for social justice and equality for all women, makes certain very significant claims based on case studies of witch-hunting from Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The report reveals that although men may fall victim to this practice as well, their numbers are relatively small. Most victims of witch-hunting are women in the age group 50-60, followed by women in the age group 40-60. This is important as it tells us that contrary to popular perception, it is not only widows and single women who are the victims of witch-hunting. Middle-aged married women, who are presumably ensconced in the safety of their marital homes, are often targeted. In fact, the report states that marital kin play an important role in perpetrating this kind of violence against women.