Assam to criminalise the practice of 'witch hunting'

Assam to criminalise the practice of 'witch hunting'

13 May 2015 01:05 PM, IST
http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/assam-to-criminalise-the-practice-of-witch-hunting


Assam to criminalise the practice of 'witch hunting'
Shanti Sandipurti, a victim of witch hunting who stays 9km from Bandgaon in Jharkhand. (Photo credit - Ramesh Pathania -LiveMint)

Guwahati, 13 May 2015: The Assam Government has finally got ready with the draft Prevention and Protection from Witch Hunting Bill, 2015 in an attempt to criminalise the evil practice of witch hunting prevalent in the state. Witch hunting is killing of a ‘witch’, a superstitious customary practice prevalent among the communities of Rabha, Hajong, Mishing, Bodo, Adivasi etc. and mainly practiced in Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baska, Sonitpur, Udalguri, Tinsukia, Dhemaji districts of Assam. Reports indicate that the practice is gradually spreading among other communities. Gender wise, most of the victims are females. The Bill is an outcome of a public interest litigation filed by a lawyer Mr. Rajib Kalita (PIL No. 98 of 2013) in 2013 demanding a law to prevent such killings.
 
The practice of witch hunting causes several deaths every year. It was reported in the state Assembly that 77 people were killed including 35 women and 60 others injured in witch-hunting incidents in Assam between 2010 and February 2015. Of the injured 60 people, 46 were women. The figures may be high as many cases remain unreported. According to the Guwahati-based NGO Assam Mahila Samata Society, 38 cases of witch hunting were documented in Goalpara district alone since 2001and these cases were not reported to media. Women in Governance, Assam (WinG Assam), has compiled 28 reported cases of witch hunting since July 2011.
 
Civil society had been demanding a stringent law to curb this practice for a long time. The proposed Bill prescribes three years imprisonment and fine for anyone who brands a person as witch and also three to seven years imprisonment for person who ‘identifies’ a witch popularly known as Bej or Ojha. Often branding of a person as witch begins when there is an outbreak of disease in the village. Local Bej (magic healer) identifies, detects and proclaims the women as witches and the whole community tortures or drives away or kill the person identified as ‘witch’. Majority of the victims are simply vulnerable women and children, the elderly or the mentally ill, single women and are sometime the victims of a personal grudge.
 
The draft also carries provisions for certain duties of police officers. It would be considered abetment if police refuses to accept FIR or neglecting investigation or trying to withheld facts and evidence will be a cognizable offence.
 
The draft Bill also makes it clear that no anticipatory bail will be granted to any person against whom an accusation of committing witch hunting is involved. The Bill makes the offence cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. Any death due to the practice of witch hunting will be prosecuted as per section 302 of Indian Penal Code.
 
If anyone fails to pay the fines, imprisonment will be granted in lieu. The victim will be given compensation or financial assistance, which the government may decide to pay as immediate relief to the victim or rehabilitation grant. All offences shall be tried by a special court not below the rank of an Additional Sessions Judge.
 
Disturbing part of the draft bill
However, it is disturbing that the draft has provided immunity by proposing that no suit or prosecution will be entertained against the government or any officer under its authority or any person for acting in ‘good faith’. What constitutes ‘good faith’ need to be more elaboration to prevent its misuse.
 
Some UN bodies repeatedly expressed concerns over the incidents of witch hunting. The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), a UN Committee for women’s rights recommended the government in 2007 to adopt appropriate measures to eliminate the practice of witch-hunting, prosecute and punish those involved, and provide for rehabilitation and compensation to victimized women and to create public awareness. UN individual expert on Violence against Women Ms. Rashida Manjoo while touring North East India in 2013, expressed concerns over this practice and urged the government to take appropriate measures.  
 
It’s high time for the civil society to engage with the law making process and make it a success.
 
The draft bill can be downloaded from http://online.assam.gov.in/web/homepol/acts and comments/suggestions about the Bill will be received till June 7, 2015 by email, by hand or regular post at assamwitchhunting@assam.gov.in or G. Sharma, Deputy Secretary, Political Department, second floor, Chief minister's block , Assam secretariat, Dispur, Guwahati, Assam.
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The writer is a human rights activist and journalist based in Guwahati.

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