Muffled Voices: Victims of Witch Hunting
in India
Dr.Deepshikha Agarwal
Associate Professor
GGS IP University
Delhi, India
[email protected]
Agenda
1.
Brief Background
2.
Objectives of Present Study & Prevalence
3.
Cultural Universals
4.
Basic Concepts
5.
Features of ‘Witches’
Targets and Perpetrators
6.
Stages of witch hunting
7.
Community response and role of state agencies
8.
Problems in eradicating the menace
9.
Interface with law
10.
Difficulty in establishing charges
11.
What needs to be done for the victims ?
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Disclaimer
Though Witches do not exist in any form but since witch
hunting is a prevalent practice in different parts of the
world, I have covered it as part of my research study.
I do not approve of Witch Hunting.
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1. Brief Background

Witch Hunting is a pan-global phenomenon.

Salem witch hunting in medieval Europe !

It has been the most perplexing problem of
contemporary societies that has raised great fervour in
the media.

Largely associated with indigenous communities, though
instances are found in modern societies as well

McMartin preschool case of 1980s !
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Victims of witch hunting
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Dalit women being publicly humiliated
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Rural India Targets Women in Witch Hunts
2500 'Witches' Murdered in 15 Years, Others Exiled
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A witch being treated by witch doctor
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2. Objectives of Present Study
 To
analyse the problem in a holistic
perspective
 Consequences of being branded as a
witch
 Response of society to the process of
witch hunting !
 Reasons for prevalence of the menace
 Legal dimension
 Reasons for state’s inability to curb it
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Prevalence of Witch Hunting

In contemporary societies of Sub-Saharan Africa, India
and Papua New Guinea.

In India, the cases are reported from - Jharkhand, Bihar,
Haryana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Gujrat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Rajasthan and
Uttar Pradesh

Present Study covers tribes such as Murias of
Chhattisgarh, Bhils and Rabaris of Rajasthan, and
Bhoksas of Uttaranchal
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Features of tribal areas in India/
concomitants of witch hunting

Low literacy rate- superstitions prevalent

Economic instability/ insecurity

Poor health and communication facilities.

Diseases are widespread, often taking form of epidemic.

Ethno healing system revolves around supernatural
beliefs & practices- witchcraft sought as cause of the
disease/ epidemic/ personal tragedy & natural
disasters.
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3. Cultural Universals

Outbreak of witch hunting shows common features
across the world both in temporal and spatial terms

Earlier, the practice of witchcraft involved legal trials.
It is a punishable offence in Saudi Arabia.

Usually prevalent in form of outbreaks during periods of
socio-economic & religious transitions

Builds general insecurity amongst people- ‘moral panic’
and ‘mass hysteria’
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4. Basic concepts

Witch hunting may be referred to as the search for
witches or evidence of witchcraft

Here, the hunt for wrongdoers is abused, and a
defendant can be convicted merely on some false
accusation

Witchcraft is associated with use of black magic/
supernatural power for inflicting harm to people or
their property, bringing misfortune, causing disease or
for awakening love/passion in somebody
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
Witches are the persons who are viewed to possess supernatural
power or evil eye, which can only bring bad omen for society.

Believed to have negative connotation/ energy, which they use
for their own betterment and for enhancing their power

Witches are always fearful and destructive

Case of Ipsita Roy Chaudhary- self professed witch
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5. Features of Witches

Ronald Hutton gave some characteristics 
Witches use non-physical means to cause
misfortune or injury to others

Harm is usually done to neighbors or kin rather
than strangers

Strong social disapproval follows due to its
association with secrecy and malice/ spite.

Society can resist witches through persuasion,
non-physical means (counter- magic) or
through deterrence including corporal
punishment, exile, fines or execution
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Who can be branded as a
witch?

Though anybody can be branded as a witch, there is a
clear cut tendency to genderize the issue.

By and large women are targeted as witches and bear
the brunt of social humiliation and stigma.

PLD- 46 out of the 48 cases collected by them were
women as targets,

Analysis of police records and reported judgments also
reveal that about 36 primary targets of witch hunting are
women.
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


Men are largely secondary victims, who
may have suffered collateral violence.
Men can be primary targets/ victims
also but Children are also victims
Entire family may be targeted
This presentation specifically
looks at the women as victims of
witch hunting.
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Why women are targeted?

Mainly women are easy targets of witch
hunting because they are relatively more
vulnerable.

Are easy scapegoats for any form of
misfortune,

To keep them in sub-servient or dominated
position

Are targeted when they turn down sexual
advances of higher caste males, or when they
supersede local males in power hierarchy
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Who can be targeted?
 Usually
Poor old, widowed,
unprotected, infertile, ugly
looking, low-caste or are socially
ostracized women,
 Attributes given by local people have red eyes, feet aligned
backwards, are jealous/ envious
and do not socially mix up with
people
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Partners for Law in Development

With exception of high caste groups, witch hunting
cuts across the caste hierarchy and across the
religious groups (victims being from Muslim or
Christian community),

Not only single women, even married women are
targeted

Not only very old women, women in the age-group of
40 to 60 are soft targets

The victims mostly belong to the economically weaker
sections, owning small land area and livestock;

Level of formal education very low
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Who are the perpetrators?

Related to the victim through
descent or alliance ties

Can be men or women

In most of the cases there is not
much difference between the social
or economic status of the victim
and the perpetrator.

Nurse grudges against the victims

May have competitive relations
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6. Stages of Witch Hunting

The process of designating somebody as
responsible for practicing witchcraft is
amorphous and manipulable.

Many myths/ stories floated about who
are witches and how do they look. People
fear, openly pointing to someone as
witch.

Targets are selected such that they will
be easily fit in the preconceived notions
of the people
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
Occurrence of some personal tragedy,
disease/ epidemic or some natural calamity,
for which it is difficult to give an explanation

Accusations levied against individuals who are
already disliked by one or more persons

Such accusations are floated experimentally if
the audience seems receptive

Circulate as gossip, flow through social
fissures until enough allies in the projected
persecution coalesce together
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
Someone/ section of society approaches
the local ojha/ religious practitioner to
know who has caused the malice

The practitioner uses divination method
to know the name of the culprit

Stage of naming and identification of the
culprit

Establishing charges

Punishment/ purging attempts
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7. Aftermaths of witch hunting

Physical- beaten, head tonsured, face
blackened, disrobed and paraded naked in
village, lynched, burnt to death

Social- name calling, isolation, public
humiliation, ostracism/ forced displacement

Economic- taking away property (land, animal
stock), loss of source of livelihood

Psychological- mental torture, depression

Secondary victimization

Education of children hampered

Undermining of overall life chances for victim
and family
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7. Community response

Immediate family members and close kins
may extend support

Sometimes they don’t support under fear
of themselves getting victimized

Neighbors either involved or remain
indifferent; usually play a negative role
from victim’s perspective

Community also plays role of instigator or
passive spectators or indifference
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Role of state agencies

May give support, but there is general apathy

Police does not register FIR out of fear of
police personnel themselves inviting the
wrath of witch doctor

Victims themselves don’t approach the
police; threat of meeting dire consequences,

Half of the FIRs are closed due to tardy
investigation

Where investigations do occur, perpetrators
are given stringent punishment;
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NGOs functional in the area

Rural Litigation and Entitlement
Kendra (RLEK)

Partner for Law and Development

Human Rights Defense
International- HRDI (organization
committed to Human Rights
Concerns of Indian Diaspora)

Assam mahila Samata Society
(Mahila Samakhya) Assam
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8. Problems in eradicating the
menace

Has certain functions in society in
anthropological terms

Problem related to establishing criminal
charges against the perpetrators;

Association with supernatural factor,
black magic;

Involvement of entire village or large
section of village or involvement of
powerful people.
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
The laws are very soft and do not provide
adequate compensation or rehabilitation
to the victims.

Most of the cases are not reported to the
police and very few come to the court.

In most of the cases that come to the
court, the culprits are acquitted because
of lack of evidence and witnesses and
there is no appeal against the acquittal.
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9. Interface with Laws in India






No law at national level
Chhattisgarh’s Tonahi Pratadna Nivaran
Act, 2005
Bihar’s Prevention of Witch (Daain)
Practices Act, 1999
Jharkhand’s The Witchcraft Prevention
Act, 2001
Odisha’s Prevention of Witch Hunting Act,
2013
Maharashtra’s Prevention and Eradication
of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman,
Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic
Act, 2013
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 The
Rajasthan government has
introduced a draft bill to tackle the
social evil of witch hunts.
 Assam’s
Prevention of and Protection
from Witch Hunting Bill, 2015
 Human
Rights Defence International
(HRDI)’s Prevention and Prohibition of
Witch Hunting Bill, 2013. Statuspending. (www.hrdi.in)
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
Special laws are perceived as
obstacles in successful prosecution
of the suspects

They only address insults, threats,
physical and psychological
harassment;

Where these laws are enacted,
states hardly takes recourse to
them
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
Under the special laws name calling and identification
of the witch is a cognizable and non-bail able offence,
thus calling for action the perpetrators;

Under IPC, name calling is treated in a trivial manner;

To prosecute the perpetrators under the special laws,
the police require credible evidence- which is very
difficult.

Different versions of the case and there are complex
motives at play.
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




Easier to deal with under IPC.
Section 323 of IPC prescribes one year’s
imprisonment and a INR 1,000 fine to anyone
who causes harm voluntarily.
Punishment for brutalizing a woman could be
the same as that for slapping a person.
There are other sections of IPC like 302
(murder) which are invoked in witch hunt
cases that lead to a woman’s death.
Supreme Court of India has called for an
effective enforcement of state laws against
witch hunts
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
With Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, things
have somewhat changed. Disrobing a woman is
viewed here as serious offence; has criminalized
sexual harassment.

It has also introduced right to compensation and
medical treatment for the victims of acid attack
and rape

Needs to be extended to victims of sexual and
gender based violence

Public acts of forced consumption of excreta,
tonsuring the head, disrobing and parading the
victim naked are not covered
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10. Difficulty in establishing
charges

Weak laws and poor implementation.

Non-reporting of cases- FIRs lodged only in case of physical
violence

Witnesses do not come forward as they themselves believe in the
sorcery- they are themselves part of the group that levies
allegations.

People fear the practitioners/ shamans who act as the witch
finder.

Little compensation disbursement, specially under Chhattisgarh
law

Preventive action not taken by the police
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
Witch killing and torturing is a human rights
issue. International Human Rights Law is silent
on this issue.

Usually the isolated killings/ tortures are
private affairs and state has no role to play in
this.

However, when such incidence increases and
govt. is not able to control it, the state
becomes responsible for it.
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
Under Human Rights Law, state cannot violate
right to life- rather it must ensure the right to
life;

Due diligence of the matter is required

Appropriate action to deter/ prevent/
investigate/ prosecute and punish the
perpetrators.

Report of the Committee on Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women 2007.

Witch hunting seen as an extreme form of
violence against women
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11. What needs to be done for the victims

Design means of appropriate redressal and recovery for the
victims.

Education, knowledge and awareness can help in eradicating
superstitions from the society.

Such practices are prevalent mostly in the remote villages where
there is very less socio- economic development and basic
education is absent.

It is really important to educate people that such practices are
inhuman and one would be penalized for such acts.

They should be made aware that by indulging or participating in
such acts, they are infringing on someone’s right to life guaranteed
by the Constitution and going against the law.

Medical aid and rehabilitation should be provided for these
unfortunate women who have been tortured in the name of belief
and practice.
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References





Contemporary Practices of Witch- Hunting: A Report
on Social Trends and Interface with Law; Report
prepared by Partners for Law in Development , 2014
Elwin, Verrier, “The Muria and Their Ghotul”; Vanya
Prakashan, Oxford University Press, Delhi; 1991.
Kelkar, Govind and Dev Nathan “Gender and Tribe:
Women, land and Forests in Jharkhand”; Kali for
Women, 1991
Leiban, Richard W., “The Dangerous Ingkantos:
Illness and Social Control in a Philippine
Community”; American Anthropolgist;1962(64): 306312.
Rebecca Vermon, “Witch Hunting: Not Just in History
Books”; The Cornell Daily Sun, Feb 2010
Muffled Voices: Victims of Witch Hunting in India,Dr.Deepshikha Agarwal
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
Ronald Hutton “Anthropological and Historical Approaches
to Witchcraft: Potential for a New Collaboration”;
Historical Journal (2004), 413- quoted in Killing of Witches,
report of Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions to
the Human Rights council (A/HRC/11/2, May27 2009

Roy, P. “Sanctioned Violence: Development and Persecution
of Women as Witches in South Bihar”; Development in
Practice; 1998 Vol.2 (2): 136-147

Shiva, M. “Diagnosing ‘Dyans’ and ‘Demons’”; Health for
the Millions; 1999, May: Vol.25 93):38-39

Wolff, B.B., “Some Behavioral Mechanisms of Human Pain”;
III Symposium IX : Pharmacology of Pain. III International
Pharmacological Congress; Pergamon Press, London; 1967.
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