Most of the victims were targeted for “causing health issues or crop failure”
Odisha has the 2nd-highest number of deaths due to witch-hunting in India. Photo: Agnimirh Basu Witch-hunts are still highly prevalent in 12 of Odisha’s 30 districts — especially Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Malkangiri, Gajapati and Ganjam — a new report has claimed.
Most victims of such superstitious practices were targeted for “causing health issues or crop failure”. Around 27 per cent cases were triggered by health issues in children, 43.5 per cent by health issues of an adult family member, 24.5 per cent by misfortune or land grabbing and 5 per cent due to crop failure, according to the study.
Witch Hunting in Odisha was jointly released by the Odisha State Commission for Women and Action Aid, an international non-governmental organisation, December 20, 2021. The findings were based on 102 case studies of victims of witch hunting and witch branding collected by Action Aid from all over the state.
The archaic and brutal practice of witch hunting and witch branding is mostly prevalent in 12 states of India — Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
The number of killings as a part of this malpractice is the second-highest in Odisha, after Jharkhand, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Odisha witnessed 19 witchcraft-related murders in 2019, while there were 18 murders each in 2018 and 2017 as well as 25 in 2016, the NCRB data showed.
The cruel practices were common in communities with unequal socio-economic systems and gender inequality, inadequate healthcare and widespread illiteracy. Women, especially Dalits and tribal people, bore the brunt of exploitation and brutality, the report observed.
Minati Behera, chairperson of Odisha State Commission for Women, said the study report collated evidence of various forms of human rights violations due to witch hunting and witch branding. The research tried to identify gaps in implementation of the existing law – the Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2013 – with an aim to suggest measures for strengthening it, she added.
“The Commission considers witch persecution of women as violation of the rights of women. As suggested by the study, the Commission will work on further steps to bring necessary amendments in the existing law to ensure adequate safeguarding to victims of witch branding,” Behera said.
Further, she said, the commission would engage with different stakeholders to ensure convergence and strategic actions by different departments towards addressing the issue of witch branding.
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