Witch Hunting In Bihar Is No Less Than Culturally Sanctioned Murder

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Witch Hunting In Bihar Is No Less Than Culturally Sanctioned Murder

It was a November afternoon last year. A crowd of about 1,000 people had gathered at Panchmah village in Gaya district of South Bihar, 30 km from Jharkhand border and surrounded by mountains.

 

 

A few villagers knocked the door of 45-year-old Arjun Das, a labourer and Mahadalit by caste. They asked him to accompany his wife, Rita Devi, 42, to the panchayat (village council).

He reached the panchayat venue alone and was shocked to see the frenzied crowd.

A 35-year-old man of normal stature, who claimed to be bhagat or ojha appeared from the crowd. A bhagat or ojha is a person who declares a woman to be a witch and claims to be an expert in exorcising evil spirits.

 

The self-acclaimed bhagat challenged Das “Tumhari patni dayan hain. Main isko sabit karoonga aur sabke samne nachwaunga” (Your wife is a witch. I will prove it and make her dance in front of everyone).

The bhagat was called by a local villager, Chandradev Bhuiyan, who is a Musahar, the most marginalised and stigmatised Dalit community. He believed that Das’ wife was the reason for the death of his son, Pravesh Bhuiyan.

The bhagat’s challenge to his wife was humiliating for Das but he didn’t say anything. However, he threw a condition before the bhagat could perform his rituals.

“Hum bole ki pahle bond banao ki agar humari patni ko nahi nachwa paye to tum humko pachaas hazaar rupya dega.” (I told the bhagat he should first sign a bond to pay Rs 50,000 if he is unable to make my wife dance), Arjun Das tells Outlook. The bhagat didn’t agree and fled from the scene. Das too left the crowd. But that was not the end of the case.

 

 

What happened a few minutes after this was a horrifying and barbaric act and Das still shivers while recounting it. He says, “The mob attacked my house. They looted all the jewellery and money in the house. They beat my wife and us. Then they put clothes, grains and other inflammable things on my wife’s body and set her on fire.” He somehow managed to escape, along with his two children. He has four sons, two of whom were out of station studying at the time. After that horrific incident, he left the village in fear of more attacks. He currently lives in a small rented room in Imamganj town about 6 km from his village.

This is not the first or only incident in Bihar of an atrocity on a woman after accusing her of being a witch. Last year, two women were brutally thrashed in Nawada district on the allegation of being witches. Other districts too have witnessed such cases. In 2020, Bihar reported four deaths after suspicion of witchcraft, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. The same figure was reported in 2021 as well. But overall crime cases against women in Bihar are high.  In 2021, a total of 8,661 cases of kidnapping and abduction were reported from the state, highest among Indian states after Uttar Pradesh (10,574 cases).These figures show that not only in the suspicion of witchcraft but also in other crimes also women become easy victims.

When a woman is branded a witch, the whole society which is illiterate and bigoted becomes her enemy and actively participates in barbaric acts against her.

There are many factors which play a role in calling a woman witch. In some cases, women are labelled witches in an attempt to seize property from them. Sometimes, jealousy against a family leading a decent life also becomes a reason for terming the woman of the family a witch. as clan members are jealous.

When a woman is branded a witch, the whole society which is illiterate and bigoted becomes her enemy and actively participates in barbaric acts against her. Terming women witches also gives society justification for violence against the woman.