Medieval practices in a modern state
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Three members of a family were hacked to death under the gaze of an entire village because their witchcraft was believed to be responsible for the death of a young girl. This is one of three such incidents in recent times in a village just 14 miles from Jharkhand's state capital, Ranchi, which itself has seen 240 murders of ‘witches’ in the past 10 years
Superstition culminating in savagery is not uncommon in Saudag, a village under Tupudana police outpost just 14 km from Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state. Witch-hunting and exorcism are still practised in this tribal village, most recently on January 2, 2010 when three people were brutally killed on suspicion of practising witchcraft.
This is the third such crime in recent times, which has claimed eight lives in total. But not only are such incidents tolerated, they are regarded with pride, and have full social sanction in this Oraon-dominated village.
On January 2, Soma Khaka, aged 65, his wife Jhirgi, 60, and their daughter Phulo were hacked to death in full view of the village. “The villagers had branded them as witches and exorcists and killing them was supposed to rid the village of evil spirits,” says Manoj Kumar Thakur, officer-in-charge of the Tupudana outpost. He says the killings occurred in the late evening hours, yet not a single villager claims to have witnessed them even though the method of killing could hardly have gone unnoticed.
“The victims were attacked with sharp-edged weapons; they were hit at the neck…their heads were slashed from their blood-spattered bodies... their visage mangled,” says Thakur, who managed to reach the site of the killings about five hours after they had occurred. During that time the bodies lay outside the family’s hut in pools of blood. The villagers were united in uttering no word of condemnation and refusing to give evidence against anyone.
The lone survivor of the family is 15-year-old Pinky Khaka, who at first was too petrified to say anything about the brutal massacre of her parents. Later she was persuaded to speak and based on her statements, the police lodged an FIR.
Still shaking with fright Pinky narrated the events of that terrible day. “We were making chappatis in the evening, when my parents were dragged out of the house and were hit. My sister, who ran out of the house shouting for help, was dragged by the hair and pushed to the ground. I hid outside the house and helplessly watched my family being butchered…”
The police have made three arrests. According to the police investigation, the motive for the killing lay in the death of the 14-year-old Suman, daughter of Risha Khaka - who is related to the slain Soma Khaka - on the auspicious occasion of Karma in September 2009. Soma and his family who allegedly practised jhar-phoonki, a way of healing in rural areas, were blamed for Suman’s death when another superstitious practice pointed to them.
The villagers had organised a tribal ritual called daalia, wherein a bhagat who is considered a messenger of God and possessed of divine powers, identifies the culprit. The bhagat reportedly pointed fingers at Soma and so firm is the villagers’ belief in the infallibility of his judgment, that once he identifies a culprit, he/she has to be killed in the best interests of the community.
After the police arrested three villagers, including Risha Khaka, the enraged villagers of Saudag stormed the police outpost. Armed with axes and sticks they demanded the immediate release of the three arrested. “They have been arrested for no fault of theirs. Who will run their home and hearth and feed their children?” they demanded. But they refuse to say who could be responsible for the killings. “We have no idea as to who committed the killing and why,” is their unvarying refrain.
Almost 100 policemen had to be deployed at the outpost to contain the situation. Thakur addressed the villagers asking them not to take the law into their own hands and to let the police do their duty.
“Three persons get killed in your village and you do not say anything. How do you expect the incident to pass off without any police action? We do not have any acrimony against you…let us do our job,” he told the rural mob.
This is not an isolated case. In 2007, two similar incidents had occurred in which five people, two of them women, were killed.
"Occasionally, superstition is just an excuse. Such victims are branded witches or exorcists so that they are killed or thrown out of their village in order to grab their land or settle scores related to family rivalry. Sometimes it is used to punish those who question social norms," says Sudha Chowdhary, state minister for social welfare.
According to police statistics, 900 women have been killed in the state of Jharkhand as a result of witch-hunting or dain pratha, since 1995. Women from remote rural backyards, branded as witches, are tortured and even brutally killed in defiance of all laws.
The capital city of Ranchi has registered the most such deaths with 240 cases. This is followed by West Singbhum where 178 women have so far been killed for practicing witchcraft. In other tribal dominated districts such as Lohardaga and Gumla, the figures are 127 and 100 respectively. In industrial districts such as Bokaro, Dhanbad, and Jamshedpur, though the figures are predictably lower, they nonetheless exist.
Since these are registered figures and many cases go unreported, this could be merely the tip of the iceberg. “We can take action only if a first information report (FIR) is lodged, and somebody is prepared to speak. In a number of cases, such incidents often go unreported,” says a senior police official, acknowledging the inadequacy of the response.
In most cases when a woman is branded a witch, she is either a widow or an old lady with property and assets and the accused have been found to be her kin or distant family members.
What is badly needed in these areas is development and education to dispel the pall of ignorance and superstition in which this and other villages wallow. Though Saudag village is barely 14 km from the capital city, there is no primary health centre nearby.
“We need to set up medical centres in such backward villages so that the villagers go to the doctors for treatment rather than trying to get cured through black magic. There is no approach road to the village either,” admitted the minister.
“We are trying to reach out to such villages through our chowkidars who are usually locals from the neighbouring villages. Pamphlets are being printed for them to distribute,” says Rajiv Randan, deputy superintendent of police, Hatia, Ranchi.
“We will try and ensure that such incidents do not recur in future,” Randan says. But if these villagers continue to be cut off from the mainstream of development, their lives will continue to be dominated by superstitions and blind and unreasoning faith.
(Moushumi Basu is a freelance journalist based in Jharkhand)
InfoChange News & Features, February 2010