WITCH-HUNTING:

ANALYSIS AND INDIAN

LAWS

By: Aditya Chauhan (00319103817)

Class: BA LLB 9
 INTRODUCTION
• India is a dynamic country where women are treated as a goddess; on the other hand, there are certain evil
practices which are in existence in society. Some
• Methods like Sati pratha, dowry system, witch hunting can be traced backed by centuries. Witch-hunting has a
prominent place in the ancient period, medieval and modern too.
• Witch-hunting is still found in various states of the country, having the superstitious people's belief. Many
women are being tortured for the sake of these beliefs. The dowry system, sati pratha, child marriage, and other
evil practices have been practiced in India for a long time. We also eliminated many unethical practices from
society as a result of technological advancements in education and economics. Several people have been abused
and injured in the past due to such horrific beliefs in evil witchcraft.
• According to the NCB report of 2015, 2290 ladies were distinguished as witches and pursued from 2001 to 2014.
• The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) announced 414 such homicides with 2,854 black magic cases from
2001 to October 2013.
• In rustic zones, ladies are not treated similarly as men in the male centric culture; even they don't have dynamic
force at the family level or picking their work.
• Witch-hunting is just notion, and there isn't anything logical in this training. Because of this evil practice,
numerous ladies experience the ill effects of different sort of physical, mental and mental issues lead to self
destruction and passing’s by and large.
 Origin of Witch-hunting in India
In India, there is no exact date for the start of witch-hunting. The beginning of the witch-hunting practice can
be followed back to Assam's Morigaon area as extremely old practice. Assam is prominently known as the
"Indian Capital of Black Magic". It is a well known objective for individuals keen on considering black magic.
In India, the training is basic in country, separated regions, particularly among ancestral individuals. The witch-
hunting practice is more pervasive in different Indian states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,
Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, and Chhattisgarh.
Who are the victims?
The witch-hunting casualties are essentially ladies like widows, more seasoned ladies, separated, unmarried
ladies because of their actual highlights hunchback and skin tone. Now and then men have likewise
experienced having otherworldly powers, and because of this, they experienced a few outcomes. Despite the
fact that the family and offspring of the one who is singe as a witch additionally endure this, they are normally
socially taken out and are driven away from the town, or at times the outcomes are most exceedingly terrible,
for example demise of an individual.
 Kinds of witch-hunting attacks

1. Determined Attacks:

Basically, determined assaults are the arranged assaults intended to satisfy some specific item, including lewd
behaviour, snatching property by unlawful methods, and delivering retribution.

2. Shock Attacks:

These assaults happen abruptly and without the casualty monitoring the claim before the assault. Shock assaults
are more deadly than arranged assaults.
 Witch-hunting Cases

In 2016, 400 individuals were executed in Tanzania because of witch chases.

Somewhere in the range of 2000 and 2012, 2097 killings in India were submitted
with the reason for witch-chasing. The counter witch chasing law was passed in
Jharkhand in 2001. Nonetheless, in 2015, five ladies were severely killed by a
crowd in the wake of being blamed for black magic. In 2017, 99 instances of
witch-chasing were enlisted in Orissa, contrasted with 83 patients in 2016 and 58
out of 2015. Somewhere in the range of 2001 and 2017, 114 ladies and 79 men in
Assam were marked as witches and slaughtered, with 202 such cases recorded.
Why is Witch-hunting still prevailing?
Individuals accept that witches have heavenly capacities that they can use to target people, slaughter crops,
harm creatures, control others' bodies and minds, and gain information not accessible to clinical experts.
Absence of information—People in provincial territories with practically no instructive chances and older
ignorant labourers reprimand ladies for awful things that happen in light of the fact that they neglect to clarify
why.

Enactments on Witch-Hunting
At the worldwide, public, and state levels, there are a few laws set up that arraign the individuals who complete
witch chases and comparable exercises.

Instruments from around the world

• Articles 1-3 , 5, 12, 13, 17(2), and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Articles 6(1), 7, 9(1), 10, 17, 18(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Declaration on
the Protection of All Persons from Torture and Other
• Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Articles 2(e), 2(f), 3, 5(a), 14(f), 15 of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination toward Women (4)
National Laws
Witch-hunting is an infringement of the resident's crucial right, cherished under India's Constitution. It violets
Article 14, 15(3), 15(4), 21, 51, 51A(h) of the Indian Constitution and furthermore other public enactment
including the'' Drugs and Magic Remedies (objectionable advertisement) Act, 1954 '' ,'' Protection of Human
Rights Act, 1993'' , ''Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of atrocities) Act 1989 '' and it likewise
provide punishment under'' Section 302 (Murder)'', ''Sec 299 (Culpable homicide)'', "Sec 354 ( assault)'', ''Sec
375 (Rape) under Indian Penal code''.

State-level Instruments
Different states have additionally acquainted and carried out laws with tackle this offense. Not many NGOs and
some nearby bodies likewise work to shield and keep the lady from such detestable practices.
 "Bihar's Prevention of Witch (Daain) Practices Act was passed in 1999". "Jharkhand passed the Prevention of
Witch (Daain) Practices Act in 2001". "The Tonahi Pratadna Nivaran Act of 2005 was passed in
Chhattisgarh".
 "The Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act of 2013 was established".
 ''The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice'' and Other Inhuman, Evil, and Aghori
Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, precludes human penance and other brutal, fiendishness, and Aghori
rehearses, just as dark sorcery.
 ''The Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act'' of 2017 was
passed in Karnataka.
 
 Legal Pronouncements

In the new case, the Gauhati High Court expressed that witch-chasing is a socio-lawful issue that
should be tended to right away. The Court record that in the North-Eastern states, a few people,
fundamentally more established ladies, are named as witches and afterward exposed to outrageous
savagery for the sake of exorcizing the abhorrent that they are said to contain.
Witch-hunting as a training isn't simply restricted to the State of Assam; it has influenced
enormous pieces of the country," the Bench said, portraying it as a social danger. It depends on
mistaken semi strict qualities, out of date socio-social traditions, and outrageous notions." The
demonstration was additionally named as one of the most exceedingly awful instances of denials of
basic freedoms by the Court. On a couple of events, the courts have shown an eagerness to arraign
the individuals who mischief and murder individuals for the sake of witch chases, while in others,
the offbeat conviction that prompted the wrongdoing has been utilized as a moderating element in
condemning. State governments for their inaction in light of the expansion in witch chases and
authoritative inaction discourage the casualties' principal right to life. The Court gave such
headings to the State Government to wipe out the detestable act of witch chasing while at the same
time denouncing it.
'Tula Devi and others v. the State of Jharkhand''
For this situation, a gathering of around ten individuals equipped with sticks broke into the complainant's
home and undermined and assaulted her. For as far back as two years, they have alluded to her as Dayan and
have taken steps to oust her. Her significant other endeavoured to save her, yet he was attacked also. The
ladies were in a condition of enthusiastic pain therefore. There was likewise a segment suit going on, in which
the lady was blamed for being a witch to put tension on them. Albeit, the case was excused because of an
absence of observers.
 
''Madhu Munda versus the State of Bihar''
A few groups are hauling a mother out of the house in the present circumstance. She had been accounted for
missing. A FIR has been documented. Mother was discovered eight days after the fact, and she said that those
individuals put her in a trench, where she dropped. She went to her sibling's home subsequent to recapturing
cognizance. The charged was not attempted for this situation too because of the observer's deceitful
declaration. 
 The role of non-governmental organisation (NGOs) and social
activists

Maybe the most notable individual to stand in opposition to strange notion is Narendra
Dabholkar, an Indian clinical specialist, social extremist, and realist. They framed and drove
the Maharashtra Andhshraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) in 1989. He was focused on
destroying odd notion in Maharashtra, and it was under his bearing that the MANS drafted the
Anti-Jadu. Tona Bill. Regardless, a few political gatherings dissented, and he was killed on
August 20, 2013. The bill was re-examined after his demise and passed in December 2013.
The 'Middle for Social Justice' is a non-benefit association that lobbies for ladies' privileges
and the privileges of abused individuals, for example, Adivasi ladies in Gujarat who are being
focused in witch chases. Another social dissident, Birubala Rabha, is attributed with
compelling the Assam government to pass one of its strictest enemy of witch chasing laws.
The Indian Rationalist Association, established by Edamaruku, plans to kill this. The
association 'Anandi' is committed to the restoration of witch chase survivors.
 Case Study
Mangri Munda, an ancestral lady, was killed alongside her two children and
two girls in January 2019 in Orissa, and their bodies were unloaded in a well
close to their home. Individuals thought she was a witch who could rehearse
dark enchantment. Budhram Munda, the witch specialist, was the main litigant
for the situation. Individuals associated her with being the reason for a long-
running ailment in the blamed family.
The instance of Magri Munda is nevertheless one of numerous where guiltless
ladies are blamed for being witches and reprimanded for the passing’s of kids,
infection spread in the town, and different setbacks.
 CONCLUSION
The practice of witch-hunting is an imperfection in current culture. Our sacred rights to security,
trustworthiness, and admittance to the web have all been declared today. While the world is improving,
individuals in numerous pieces of the nation are as yet denied the key right to a fair life. Having eccentric
practices illicit is only one aspect of the issue. The state should find satisfactory ways to lessen
destitution, improve everyday environments, general wellbeing, instructive freedoms, and foundation in
country and far off territories. As an issue of need, an association ought to be framed to manage such
cases rapidly and gently. The need of great importance is for a successful focal law that forbids the act of
witch-chasing and has a vigorous consistence system. Just when disasters, for example, witch-chasing are
destroyed from society will individuals completely make the most of their common freedoms.
THANK YOU