By: Aditi Pandey
INTRODUCTION
Women as individuals have been victimized in various manners including gender-based violence which is solely justified as culture. Whereas, it is nothing but the supremacy of men over women through established “patriarchy” in the society. As a result, there exists tremendous trauma to women both on physical and psychological levels. According to the National Crime Record’s Bureau Report of 2019, across India, the deaths related to Witch Hunt is highest in Chhattisgarh along with Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, and Jharkhand. Amongst these, very few states have established legislation on Witchcraft and even despite having a statute, the crime rates are alarming. At times the cases are registered not on the said ground but under other subheads like property or land disputes.
The violence against women pertaining to witchcraft encompasses dowry deaths, genital mutilation, murder, rape as well as female foeticide and it is very much evident that how these set of crimes are increasing and is visible via records and reports. It is important to note that the practice of witch hunts is acceptable on cultural and ethnic grounds rather than being censured as violent activity. The Fourth World Conference on Womenheld in Beijing, China in the year 1995 validated the importance of women’s human rights across the globe. The discussion brought to notice why violence against women should be condemned and be declared as a violation of human rights.
GENESIS OF WITCH HUNT IN INDIA
One of the bases of the establishment of witchcraft and witch hunt is superstition. Most of the communities settled in rural areas have a firm belief in the existence of evil spirits which are inherently trapped in women in the form of dains and such women are persecuted as tohnis or pagnahin. This practice is also considered as a form of rebellion which is nothing but a fight against the social order of the society i.e. the reaction of a male-dominated society intolerant to the rebellion of women. Women are also deprived of possessing any ritual knowledge or even being a part of any ritual. Such knowledge can act as a hindrance in the established social order as well as a threat to the male-dominated class. Here one section of the society is striving to change the other section of society by bringing in a change in the existing social order via the support of such cultural practices. Established Patriarchy also plays a vital role in the practice of witch hunts in India. The struggle and conflict between the male-dominated and female-dominated system make it a rebellion in itself. Such rebellion can be against an established authority as well as that of the independence era where it was a sign of non-cooperation of the British rules and regulations where the agitation started from the Chota Nagpur region. Though there is also an assumption that witchcraft is not exactly a reaction to the rebellion of women but is happening because of the peasant rebellion which is that of the poor. The result of this was the poor believed that the witches were visited on them than on the popes and princes. Huge lands are owned and cultivated by women in the tribal and rural communities which in turn are captured by the accusers. This indicates that land dispute was also a catalyst to the witch-hunting system.
Globalization did impact and aid the practice of witchcraft in various tribal areas. Due to increased westernization and adaptation of other religious and cultural practices, tribal groups see this as a threat to their ethnicity. As a result, to restore and protect their beliefs, they resort to continuing such practices in the garb of “Ethnicity” and “Culture”. This ideology of the tribal and ethnic groups is popularly known as ethnic revivalism. Numerous unjustified cultural practices have started because of this revivalism. Witch Hunting is one of the most prominent of all these practices which is not only a result of globalisation but also the failure of the modern state machinery where they have failed as an institution that is unable to define the mysterious deaths happening across the nation. This makes most of the indigenous groups rely on their traditional knowledge systems.
It is important to understand the aspect of gender-based control where only women of a certain category are being persecuted as witches and are further controlled by performing various forms of violence like rape, domestic violence, etc. Even then the persecuted women as witches are mostly widows, aged, lower caste and children. This symbolizes how only the weaker class is being subjected to such practices whereas the witch doctors are always men, popularly known as ojhas. Also, it cannot be concluded that women belonging to higher status are not subjected to the same. The relationship between men and women shows how patriarchy is a deep-rooted social issue that does nothing but embeds this in the mind of women, that men belong to the superior class and are born to suppress them. It is a matter of fact that until and unless there is no substantial change within the society that makes women self-sustainable, no set of laws can change the current status of women in India.
ROLE OF CULTURE AND ETHNICITY OF TRIBES
Villages belonging to the various communities have different rituals which they perform with their families collectively. But what is strange in almost all indigenous communities is that there exists a complete exclusion of women in such practices. The Santhals, a community belonging to the central-eastern part of India observe such exclusion of women especially when there is collective worship of a abge bonga or orak bonga, which is the family spirits. Women are generally considered an individual who is outside of the clan since the family lineage is passed on from the father to the son and not to the daughters. Bhitri which is a shrine inside the temple or the house where the rituals take place is generally cleaned by the unmarried women of the family. Neither the married women nor sisters are allowed to enter the shrine and perform rituals nor can they perform the sacrifice of animals. This kind of exclusion of women in the family is the first and initial stage of creating a class divide by denial of rights to women. Apart from this, women are also aloof of the rituals performed in the village collectively by not allowing them entry to the sacred grove known asjaher or saran as well as not making them a part of “Lohrae” which is the agricultural harvest festival of the Santhals. Moreover, the women are also excluded from worshipping female spirits of the grove (Jaher-era and Gosaen-era) and such ritual is performed by the male priest itself. Any woman who is in association with these rituals or the bongas is designated as a witch and persecuted.
Various ethnographic records and accounts state that the witches are the greatest threat to the Santhal community. It is a belief amongst the Santhali men that the women who have the evil power are mostly older and further teach magical codes to the young women. As soon as a girl enters puberty and starts to menstruate, they are recruited by older women of the village to learn incantations and rites. When women are prohibited to learn and perform these rituals by depriving them of their rights, they perform the same secretly. This secret performance of rituals is misinterpreted as evil and labelled “Witchcraft” rather than depicting this as a rebellion against the class divide. The witch-finders, popularly known as ojhas or deoras are the ones who designate women as witches in the Santhal community. These ojhas are always the men and are entitled to identify and persecute women as a witch. The identification is done via interrogation with the village people who name women suspected to be witches and should be removed from the village. The kind of threat and violence Santhali women go through because of witchcraft is pitiful and gruesome. They spend most of their lives living under the threat of being persecuted as a witch. Whenever the village is hit by an epidemic of diseases like cholera etc, the women of the village are beaten up by the men and are forced to drink human excreta in the name of treatment.
Similarly “Ethnic Revivalism” is relevant to the tribes of Assam as well. Bodos community of Assam designate a woman with suspicious powers as a daini (witch). Though there are hardly any records available in the form of folklore etc to identify such practices, only references show that the community was involved in witch hunts as well. Such practices are motivated by the rebel nature of women which includes the denial of offering sexual favours to men which in turn acts as a justification for men to persecute them as witches. With over 116 deaths occurring due to witch hunts in the state of Assam, over 60 are women and 56 are men. This statistic does not justify that an equal amount of men are killed, rather it signifies that male children are also killed along with their mothers to cleanse the effect of evil in society. This is an example of how indigenous communities still have traditional patriarchal prejudices which raises unreasonable suspicion on women.
LOOPHOLES IN ESTABLISHEDSTATUTES AND THE NEED FOR A CENTRAL LEGISLATION
The Indian Penal Code 1860 is currently considered for various suspicious deaths of women across the nation because of the lack of legislation that covers the practice of witch hunts as a “violent act”. The cases rather than being dealt with a specific law, it is considered under the different offences like that of Murder u/s 302, Attempt to murder u/s 307 as well as Rape u/s 376 of the Indian Penal Code. Due to either lack of eyewitnesses or unreliable testimonies, most cases are dismissed at the initial stage itself. In Tula Devi & Ors. v. State of Jharkhand, the evidence was in question since it was unable to prove the guilt of the accused since there was no eye witness present at the time of identification and persecution of the woman as a witch. Another factor that adds to the issue is the delay in reporting the crime due to the location of the crime scene which is mostly the outskirts of an urban area where police authorities are not easily accessible. Such delay has been observed in various cases like that of Madhu Munda v. State of Biharwhich ultimately made the statement of the witness not reliable.
Considering the current state legislations prevalent in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Bihar, Rajasthan etc., it is evident that there is nearly zero implementation of these laws because it is not supported by central legislation. And even when it is implemented, it is ineffective because of the quantum of punishment laid down in the Acts. For instance, TheRajasthan Women (Prevention and Protection from Atrocities)bill established in 2006 specifies witch hunt as illegal and punishable but at the same time prescribes the punishment of just three years imprisonment along with Rs.5000 fine for persecution. Similarly, The Chhattisgarh Tonahi PratadnaNivaran Act of 2005 dictates that the punishment for claiming a woman to be a Tonahi will be rigorous imprisonment which will extend just for a year along with a fine. There hardly exists any mention of a special procedure that has to be followed for the trail of such cases other than that of the Jharkhand’s legislation. All these factors contribute to the ineffectiveness of legislation which is unable to inherit a threat in the minds of the wrongdoers due to the relaxed punishments mentioned in the said statutes.
CONCLUSION Time heals everything but issues like these should be recognized and legitimized by the government as well. Acceptance to talk about such issues will bring awareness and consciousness in the mind of people regarding the Witch Hunt in India. Ms. ChutniMahto, awardee of the highest civilian award – Padma Shri in 2021 for her work and contribution in the cognizance of this issue, being a victim of the witch hunt is a positive gesticulation. This shows that the issue is being recognized by the government. If these practices continue, it will simply make men the epitome of purity and authority while recognizing the gender disparity.
[The author is a third-year B.A. LL.B student at Symbiosis Law School, Noida.]