When Americans think of burning witches, they often consider it a metaphor or historical event from hundreds of years ago. However, in India, there have been numerous incidents wherein women accused of being a “dayan” or “witch” are tortured, raped, hacked to death, or burned alive. Allegations of witchcraft that result in communal murder have long been a part of rural India’s history.
In the wee hours of August 8, 2015, five women namely, Rasia Khalkho, Jacinta Khalkho, Etwariya Khalkho, Mandi Bhaktain and Titri Khalkho, who were residents of Kanjiya Maraitoli, were stripped and lynched in a village assembly at Kanjiya Maraitoli village under Mandar police station on the outskirts of Ranchi.
Before the occurrence of this brutal assassination, which was done by the use of sticks, batons, knives or stones, around 100 irate villagers broke into the houses of these five women, dragged the women by their hair, stripped them, took them to a nearby clearing where they held an assembly before killing them.
A local in Kanjiya Maraitoli said that four children had died in the past six months after prolonged illness. The villagers believed that Rasia Khalkho, Jacinta Khalkho, Etwariya Khalkho, Mandi Bhaktain and Titri Khalkho practiced witchcraft and were responsible for the death of the children. The death of 18 year old Punit Khalko was the breaking point and was used by the irate villagers to avenge the deaths that had been occurring in the village. Following their unfounded beliefs, the villagers branded those five women as witches and the collective judgment to kill them was made.
However, the family members of the deceased said that the women were innocent and were not into black-magic. Matias khalko, husband of Jacinta Khalko, said, “we begged the villagers for mercy, but none of the assailants listened to us.” Children of another victim Etwariya, had to jump the mud-wall of their house to flee the crowd as the latter pursued them after they tried to save their mother.
According to police, 50 villagers turned up at the police station to confess their crime. “Even small children claimed they had killed them. They wanted to remove the specter of death in the village and they believed that the elimination of witches was important for that,” said one official. (Source)
After reading this news, I said to myself, “What an awful specter of superstition still looms over my country!!! What a tribal barbarism it is in the name of faith!”
Jharkhand State Women’s Commission (JSWC) chairperson Mahua Manjhi, a renowned literary figure of the state, and an eminent writer, says, “Lack of education, road connectivity to towns and cities, unemployment and awareness are some of the reasons behind ‘dayan bisahi’ (superstition of witchcraft).” [Source]
It is important to note here that many of the arrested assailants who were involved in this gruesome incident are students of Mandar College, which comes under Ranchi University, Ranchi. Furthermore, Jharkhand often witnesses killing in the name of witchcraft. According to an estimate, in the last 10 years, over 1000 women have been killed in the state for allegedly practicing witchcraft.
Jharkhand is famous for an indigenous religion called Sarna, derived from oral tradition, which does not treat women equally to men. Compounded with women being second-class citizens, single women, especially widows, are the targets of witchcraft accusations. In 2001, the Jharkhand government passed the Dayan Pratha (Prevention of Witch Practices) Act to protect women from inhumane treatment and give victims legal recourse to abuse. The murder case of August 8, 2015 exemplifies that witch hunting is a “common” phenomenon in the state, and the law has not eliminated the practice.
In November 2013, a mother and daughter in Jharkhand were pulled out of their home by villagers who took them to a nearby forest and slit their throats. After the mother’s husband died years before, rumors began that the women were witches, and villagers blamed the women for several children becoming ill. Regarding the murders, police said: “All I can say is the women seem to have been killed for witchcraft”
My eyes do not want to visualize the merciless killing of those five women and those mother and daughter; I just can’t imagine how inhumane such incidents were. But my heart wants to see eradication of superstitious acts through literacy programs. I appreciate organizations like Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) or (Maharashtra Blind faith Eradication Committee) and The Indian Rationalist Association for engaging in rural outreach and teaching critical thinking to expose superstition.
While it is difficult or impossible to rid the world of superstition, there are many underfunded groups trying to end modern witch hunts that continue to plague remote parts of India. I am sure, just like me, you also want miraculous help to reach these parts of India. I salute rationalist social reformers like Narendra Achyut Dabholkar who openly agitated against harmful superstitions and exploitative rituals in India. Darkness (meaning superstition) cannot be thrown out, but a lighted candle will gradually help expel it. Superstition is fossilized, pious ignorance of gullible pious people that assures them emotional protection, but at the same time promotes their exploitation and merciless killing just as the communal murder that happened on August 8, 2015. Superstition is utter foolishness; a religion followed by feeble minds. Stop it!!
