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Tribal women - Victims of Witch Hunting

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August 10, 2017

What is the issue?

On International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (August 9), a most common form of violence against tribal women i.e branding them as witches, is being remembered.

What is witch hunting?

  • Witch hunting involves the branding of victims, especially women as witches, where they are accused of possessing supernatural powers to harm others.
  • The victim is subjected to numerous forms of torture, beatings, burns, paraded naked through the village, forced to eat human excrement and sometimes even raped.
  • In some cases their hair is cut off and the victim and their children are socially excluded and even put to death.

What are the reasons for victimisation?

  • A combination of superstitious beliefs, religious practices and patriarchal norms results in women being accused of witchcraft.
  • Witch hunting is often deployed to deprive women of land and property, to take revenge where women refuse sexual advances and to punish women for petty disputes.
  • Lack of education and health services have contributed to the continuation of this antiquated practice of witch hunting.
  • The complexity of this issue and its punitive dimensions can be found in the blurring of boundaries between protector and perpetrator.
  • This is because perpetrators are often members of their own family, neighbourhood and community.
  • Women themselves resist challenging the patriarchal norms and superstition.
  • Moreover, the identity politics of adivasi vs non-adivasi overtakes the reality of patriarchal violence within the adivasi community.
  • Society and governments are hardly outraged over the torture, rape and murders of tribal, rural women in the name of witch-hunting.
  • As a result of this lethargic response and action, accused goes unpunished.

Is there a legislation on this?

  • NCRB data and police records show that the practise is more prevalent in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh , West Bengal, Rajasthan and Assam.
  • There is no specific and particular national level legislation that penalises Witch hunting.
  • Hence various provisions and sections under the Indian Penal Code 1860 are being invoked for taking legislative actions.
  • Different states have also come up with different legislations.

What should be done?

  • The country must recognize that witch-hunting is very real and that it is treated as “business as usual” by adivasi, Dalit and other women in many parts of India.
  • Strict enforcement as well as implementation of Anti-witchcraft laws by the states will work to prevent witch-hunting practices.
  • Sensitizing of police and welfare department and establishment of NGO’s for this purpose could prove beneficial.
  • The issue could be brought into the school curriculum to raise awareness to change the perspective of society and the belief over superstition.

 

Source: The Indian Express

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