Kalahandi police detained two persons the other day for allegedly using black magic to locate a hidden treasure. While it goes without saying that such treasure hunts invariably end in fiascos, the incident highlights the prevalence of superstition-driven practices such as sorcery and witchcraft in the state’s rural belt. Such practices often beget crimes of the worst kind, particularly against women.
In the past there have been several cases of women being beaten and tortured, even by their own family members and relatives, on the suspicion of being witches. While the tribal hinterland of the state has been particularly vulnerable to such crimes, belief in sorcery and witchcraft also remains high in the non-tribal areas. Last year, people witnessed the bizarre spectacle of a black magician trying to revive a dead woman, a victim of snakebite, near the morgue of Padampur sub-divisional headquarters hospital in Bargarh district.
It is this mindset that makes people prone to superstition-related crimes. With a view to curbing this gory trend, the Naveen Patnaik government has stepped up efforts towards strict implementation of Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2013. The good thing is that while the police are doing their bit, the voluntary sector has also stepped in to help the government in this endeavour by spreading awareness against such crimes among the people.
Sensitization is of the essence in such matters and there is an urgent need to organize workshops and seminars in the rural areas to highlight the ill-effects of belief in practices such as sorcery and witchcraft. If sorcerers, referred to as ‘disaris’ in certain areas of the state, can try to fool people by pretending to revive the dead within the premises of hospitals by using their craft, one can easily imagine what must be happening in the far off tribal villages where such dubious practitioners of the occult find readymade victims among the illiterate people.
Unfortunately, even educated people sometimes tend to believe in superstitious practices. A few years ago, a young college-going girl in western Odisha was allegedly killed by her friends for the fulfilment of a bizarre religious ritual. The accused were fanatic followers of a cult. Several incidents of alleged child sacrifice have also been reported in the state in the past.
Prevalence of such crimes has been particularly high in tribal-dominated districts such as Sundargarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj. Several cases of witch hunting have been reported from these districts, with women invariably at the receiving end. Long back in Sundargarh, the district police had carried out an intensive awareness drive against such crimes with the help of rationalists and voluntary sector activists. This led to a temporary drop in the prevalence rate of such crimes, but such initiatives need to be sustained for a long time in order to be truly effective.
At the same time, it is important to implement the Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2013 as effectively as possible. A strong message must go out that the perpetrators of such crimes will not be spared. The Chief Minister is doing his absolute best in this regard. If the people of the state support him in this noble and much-needed action, Odisha will be free of such problems – sooner than later.
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