Witch hunts remain a persistent scourge in rural parts of Jharkand state and adjoining areas of Chhatisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal. Periodically there are reports of a woman accused of causing misfortunes through black magic. Once accused, a woman faces hideous treatment, banishment and possibly death:
Recalling the trauma she faced, Ramani narrates: ‘I was tortured and forced to eat human excreta just because I was branded a witch by the ojhas (witch doctors).’ ( )
Vaisakhi, in her 50s, had also been brutally beaten up by a villager, who branded her a witch.
There are scores of women who have been branded witch by villagers and tortured. Many were killed, sometimes by beheading or dismembering their limbs.
Many like Ramani Devi are forced to drink urine or consume human excreta. Some are ostracised and thrown out of their villages. [Link]
These occurrences are most common in adivasi (or tribal) communities; but they have also been reported in non-adivasi settings. The victim may be a vulnerable woman, such as a widow, or one who has made herself inconvenient to the village power structure by asserting an economic or political right:
In Bijli village in Raipur district of Madhya Pradesh, a Dalit woman, Lata Sahu, contested against a backward-caste woman in the panchayat elections. Lata was prone to epileptic attacks. The Yadavs and Patels, who belong to the land-owning castes, got Lata’s sister-in-law to condemn her as a tonahi (witch). Lata was stripped of her clothes and paraded in the village.
In another case, in Tarra village in Raipur district, a woman was hacked to death after being branded a witch by her brother-in-law after she sought a right over her deceased husband’s land. In yet another case, in Gaandi village in Angara Block in Ranchi, two Dalit widows were tortured, resulting in the death of one of them, who was 75 years old. It began with the death of two children due to malaria and jaundice in September. An exorcist told the father of the children, Mahavir Baitha, that the two widows, Jeetan Devi and Dubhan Devi, were responsible for the deaths. In front of the son, the mother was tonsured, beaten, paraded and burnt. Earthen pitchers were broken on the heads of the two widows. [Link]
States including Jharkhand have adopted a law against witch hunts, but awareness is minimal, let alone enforcement, and the punishment it provides for is minimal:
In 1999, the government passed a law, which came to be known as the “The Prevention of Witch Practices Act”. The law proposed six months imprisonment and a fine of 2,000 rupees (44 dollars) on anyone found guilty of torturing innocent women.
Despite being adopted by many States, the law has failed to act as a deterrent. Analysts blame illiteracy for cases of torture against women. [Link]
With the law largely impotent, some Jharkhand women who survived these experiences are now responding by creating awareness. A non-governmental organization based in Jamshedpur is helping them develop educational programs such as street plays:
‘When these women tell the gory acts and inhuman things they were subjected to, people can feel it. They succeed in pulling a good number of crowds,’ says Vasvi, a social worker engaged with Free Legal Aid Committee (FLAC), an NGO that organises the street plays and works to spread awareness against witch killings. [Link]
The method is a classic one of community education and outreach, and it appears to have some effect:
During the street performances, we throw up an issue, let the audience identify the problem and involve them to come up with the solutions. They also suggest the steps that lead to the solutions. We do at least two to three shows a week, said Flac member and Changemaker Ajay Kumar, who has been involved with the project since its inception.
The street shows are usually followed by debates amongst the audience, during which they arrive at conclusions themselves. Around 10 people have joined us as Changemakers in the past month, having been inspired by our work. Our target is to create 40,000 Changemakers every year, added Kumar. [Link]
And it has turned victims into educators and activists:
Poonam Toppo, who was once declared a ‘witch’ and ostracised, says that through dramatizing the true-life witchcraft nightmares, she along with others seeks to reach out to the villagers. “We deliberated on how best to uproot this evil that is seeped in superstition. We know it is complete superstition and has no scientific basis. But to get this message across we compiled our true-life witch-hunt experiences into a street play. We first performed the play in our villages and, thereafter, have been moving from village to village, trying to educate people about the law. This is our endeavour, to bring about social awakening,” she said. [Link]
And that, in its own way, is magic.
