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As a ploy To hound them out of their land and property, women in the tribal belt of rural Gujarat are branded as witches and ostracized even as the law stands by and watches helplessly. Widows and ageing childless women are the most vulnerable
Last week, an agitated group of adivasis surrounded a police station in Chhota Udaypur, Gujarat. They were demanding that the 'witches' who had been taken into custody by the cops be brought before them. Rumours were rife that these 'witches' had turned into horses and cows and then vanished into thin air. Nothing could douse the mounting public hysteria.
In early July, a couple was murdered by village neighbours for allegedly practising witchcraft. Bardan Gurung, 50, and his wife Manshobha, 45, of Satbariya village of Dang district were killed after a local quack, Tekendra Bista, branded the woman as a witch. This was the first-ever case of murder of an alleged witch reported from the district. Every year more than 150 women are killed on suspicion of being witches across India. Every other day Indian newspapers carry headlines about a hapless woman being stripped and paraded naked after being labelled a witch by village quacks.
In industrially developed Gujarat, the principal social indices are far healthier than they are in many other Indian states. Yet, the heinous practice of targeting 'witches' and hounding them out of their homes and villages continues here, especially in the tribal areas of north and south Gujarat.
As elsewhere in India, women thus victimised in Gujarat are invariably land-owning widows or childless women who have no way of defending themselves against the allegation hurled at them. The allegation of witchcraft is levelled against them primarily as a ploy to deprive them of their land and inheritance.
Village folk in the tribal belt of Gujarat are a superstitious lot, and it is quite easy to convince them that a particular woman is a witch whose presence in the village brings ill luck to people around her. A woman can be ostracised for a variety of reasons, ranging from causing somebody's death to crop failure.
'When a woman is suspected of being a witch, villagers march in a procession to her home, accompanied by local leaders and panchayat members. Once they reach the house, a quack drops a lentil seed in water. If the pulse keeps floating on the surface, the woman is branded as a witch,' says Sejal Dand, coordinator of the NGO, Area Networking and Development Initiatives (ANANDI).
'What follows is an unending ordeal for the woman who is singled out. She is humiliated, tortured and, in some cases, chilli powder is thrown into her eyes. Sometimes, the poor woman is even killed,' adds Ms Dand.
In yet another incident, the childless Mangliben and her husband were mercilessly beaten up recently by family members who blamed them for the death of a child. They accused Mangliben of casting an evil eye on the family and its members. The couple was subsequently driven out of the village. They approached the police for help but the law, under pressure from the relatives of the hapless couple, turned a blind eye to the atrocity. The couple was hounded out of the police station as well.
'Mangliben owned an eight-acre plot of land and the family members had their eyes on it for a long time,' says Guliben Nayak of Devgarh Mahila Sangh. Every month, at least one case of a widow or childless woman being labelled a witch is reported from the tribal district of Dahod, she points out. In virtually every such case, the affected woman owns ancestral property and land. When her family and neighbours turn against her, the entire tribal society tends to believe the allegation of witchcraft and joins in socially boycotting the woman. And once she is hounded out of the village and the community, it becomes easy to transfer her inheritance to the name of her father-in-law or brother-in-law.
Ms Dand recounts the sad plight of a widow who, even 25 years after the death of her husband, continues to seek justice in vain. 'After Sukhaliben's husband, Rupsinh Nayak of Santalpur village of Dahod district, passed away, her in-laws claimed that she was involved in witchcraft and forced her to leave the village. She is not even allowed to plough her husband's land. We are trying our best to wrest back her rights through legal means. But for now, Sukhaliben is struggling to make ends meet in Dahod city,' the activist says.
Ms Dand blames severe poverty, social banishment and the absence of a law to protect vulnerable rural women for the victims' inability to fight back. She says: The state of Jharkhand, for instance, has a firm law against those who commit crimes against women by invoking the fear of witchcraft. Offences that are registered under the Jharkhand Prevention of Witch Practices Act are cognizable and non-bailable.'
In Gujarat, however, there is no separate law which can be applied in police stations when such cases are reported. Most such cases are registered under the regular provisions of the Indian Penal Code. 'The offence in this scenario is a bailable one. So culprits can get away quite easily,' says Ms Dand.
In most cases of this nature, the culprits are male relatives. They have enough clout within the community to put pressure on the police to withdraw the complaints that the victims lodge. The local authorities, too, refrain from supporting the victims. If ever the matter comes up before a court, every effort is made for an out of court settlement, which, needless to say, is usually in favour of the perpetrators of the crime.
It isn't just illiterate villagers who are behind this reprehensible practice. Even educated people are unable to take an informed stand. Mahendra Rathava, a man who possesses a Master's degree in Hindi literature, says, 'I cannot argue with my parents on this issue.' In fact, so deep-rooted is the culture of obscurantism here that many refuse to talk about the subject for the fear of being 'punished' by the dakan (witch).
Ms Dand says, 'Lack of education and adequate health facilities has aggravated the problem manifold. The government should bolster the health infrastructure and promote awareness among tribals in this area. It should also concentrate on formulating proper legislation to protect vulnerable tribal widows and childless women.' Until that happens, women like Sita Sonvane, Somuben Gamit, Sharda Asari, Mattiben, Dahali Nayak and Mangliben will continue to suffer. Some NGOs, like the one that Ms Dand represents, are trying to help them, but justice remains a distant dream.
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As a ploy To hound them out of their land and property, women in the tribal belt of rural Gujarat are branded as witches and ostracized even as the law stands by and watches helplessly. Widows and ageing childless women are the most vulnerable
Last week, an agitated group of adivasis surrounded a police station in Chhota Udaypur, Gujarat. They were demanding that the 'witches' who had been taken into custody by the cops be brought before them. Rumours were rife that these 'witches' had turned into horses and cows and then vanished into thin air. Nothing could douse the mounting public hysteria.
In early July, a couple was murdered by village neighbours for allegedly practising witchcraft. Bardan Gurung, 50, and his wife Manshobha, 45, of Satbariya village of Dang district were killed after a local quack, Tekendra Bista, branded the woman as a witch. This was the first-ever case of murder of an alleged witch reported from the district. Every year more than 150 women are killed on suspicion of being witches across India. Every other day Indian newspapers carry headlines about a hapless woman being stripped and paraded naked after being labelled a witch by village quacks.
In industrially developed Gujarat, the principal social indices are far healthier than they are in many other Indian states. Yet, the heinous practice of targeting 'witches' and hounding them out of their homes and villages continues here, especially in the tribal areas of north and south Gujarat.
As elsewhere in India, women thus victimised in Gujarat are invariably land-owning widows or childless women who have no way of defending themselves against the allegation hurled at them. The allegation of witchcraft is levelled against them primarily as a ploy to deprive them of their land and inheritance.
Village folk in the tribal belt of Gujarat are a superstitious lot, and it is quite easy to convince them that a particular woman is a witch whose presence in the village brings ill luck to people around her. A woman can be ostracised for a variety of reasons, ranging from causing somebody's death to crop failure.
'When a woman is suspected of being a witch, villagers march in a procession to her home, accompanied by local leaders and panchayat members. Once they reach the house, a quack drops a lentil seed in water. If the pulse keeps floating on the surface, the woman is branded as a witch,' says Sejal Dand, coordinator of the NGO, Area Networking and Development Initiatives (ANANDI).
'What follows is an unending ordeal for the woman who is singled out. She is humiliated, tortured and, in some cases, chilli powder is thrown into her eyes. Sometimes, the poor woman is even killed,' adds Ms Dand.
In yet another incident, the childless Mangliben and her husband were mercilessly beaten up recently by family members who blamed them for the death of a child. They accused Mangliben of casting an evil eye on the family and its members. The couple was subsequently driven out of the village. They approached the police for help but the law, under pressure from the relatives of the hapless couple, turned a blind eye to the atrocity. The couple was hounded out of the police station as well.
'Mangliben owned an eight-acre plot of land and the family members had their eyes on it for a long time,' says Guliben Nayak of Devgarh Mahila Sangh. Every month, at least one case of a widow or childless woman being labelled a witch is reported from the tribal district of Dahod, she points out. In virtually every such case, the affected woman owns ancestral property and land. When her family and neighbours turn against her, the entire tribal society tends to believe the allegation of witchcraft and joins in socially boycotting the woman. And once she is hounded out of the village and the community, it becomes easy to transfer her inheritance to the name of her father-in-law or brother-in-law.
Ms Dand recounts the sad plight of a widow who, even 25 years after the death of her husband, continues to seek justice in vain. 'After Sukhaliben's husband, Rupsinh Nayak of Santalpur village of Dahod district, passed away, her in-laws claimed that she was involved in witchcraft and forced her to leave the village. She is not even allowed to plough her husband's land. We are trying our best to wrest back her rights through legal means. But for now, Sukhaliben is struggling to make ends meet in Dahod city,' the activist says.
Ms Dand blames severe poverty, social banishment and the absence of a law to protect vulnerable rural women for the victims' inability to fight back. She says: The state of Jharkhand, for instance, has a firm law against those who commit crimes against women by invoking the fear of witchcraft. Offences that are registered under the Jharkhand Prevention of Witch Practices Act are cognizable and non-bailable.'
In Gujarat, however, there is no separate law which can be applied in police stations when such cases are reported. Most such cases are registered under the regular provisions of the Indian Penal Code. 'The offence in this scenario is a bailable one. So culprits can get away quite easily,' says Ms Dand.
In most cases of this nature, the culprits are male relatives. They have enough clout within the community to put pressure on the police to withdraw the complaints that the victims lodge. The local authorities, too, refrain from supporting the victims. If ever the matter comes up before a court, every effort is made for an out of court settlement, which, needless to say, is usually in favour of the perpetrators of the crime.
It isn't just illiterate villagers who are behind this reprehensible practice. Even educated people are unable to take an informed stand. Mahendra Rathava, a man who possesses a Master's degree in Hindi literature, says, 'I cannot argue with my parents on this issue.' In fact, so deep-rooted is the culture of obscurantism here that many refuse to talk about the subject for the fear of being 'punished' by the dakan (witch).
Ms Dand says, 'Lack of education and adequate health facilities has aggravated the problem manifold. The government should bolster the health infrastructure and promote awareness among tribals in this area. It should also concentrate on formulating proper legislation to protect vulnerable tribal widows and childless women.' Until that happens, women like Sita Sonvane, Somuben Gamit, Sharda Asari, Mattiben, Dahali Nayak and Mangliben will continue to suffer. Some NGOs, like the one that Ms Dand represents, are trying to help them, but justice remains a distant dream.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM BBA MBA Institute: Student Notice Board
IIPM Prof Rajita Chaudhuri's Snaps
An array of unconventional career options
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Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU): Students' Unions can not be banned
The hunt for hostel and paying guest (PG) accommodation for students
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