After that around 12 people, with sticks and weapons attacked Murmu's house.On October 8, in Ranchi's Tupudana, a 65-year-old woman was killed after branding her as a witch.In 2022, 26 people have been killed, of which more than 95 per cent are women.In the past seven years, on an average 35 women are killed in the name of witchcraft every year.According to Criminal Investigation Department (CID), in 2015, 46 women were killed after branding them as witch, 39 in 2016, 42 in 2017, 25 in 2018, 27 in 2019, 28 in 2020 and 22 in 2021. In seven and a half years , more than 250 people have been killed.In cases of harassment after branding a woman as witch, police have registered 4,556 cases in between the year 2015 to 2020. Official figures for cases between 2021-2022 are not available. It is estimated that since 2015, over 5,000 cases have been reported till date, which means that every day two to three cases are recorded.Jharkhand, which was carved out of Bihar in 2000, records three incidents of witch hunt violence per day and at least 1,050 people have been murdered due to the superstition in the past 23 years.Chandoshree, who has been associated with social organisations and NGOs, said superstition and illiteracy are main reasons behind the witch-hunt but at times it is done with the ulterior motive of grabbing the properties of widow and helpless women. They are branded as witch for people's illness and death, even death of animals.Jharkhand High Court advocate Yogendra Yadav told IANS that 30 to 40 per cent incidents of witch violence do not even reach police.Most of the victims, mainly women do not even report it due to fear of the outlaws and social stigma.Most of the harassment is faced at the hands of family and such incidents are reported when all limits are crossed.The need of the hour is to make the law stricter, fast track courts for early disposal of such cases and intensifying campaign to spread awareness about the witch-hunt.In 2021, the state brought in Witchcraft Prevention Act but the increasing number of such incidents need a review of the law.As per Jharkhand Chief Minister's portal, to eradicate the malpractice of witch hunt, the state government has been running Garima Pariyojana.Under this programme, an awareness programme is carried out against witch hunt, families of the victims are identified and provided help through Garima Kendras and call centres.Under the first phase, the scheme is covering 342 gram panchayats in 25 blocks of seven districts.
--IANS snc/svn/
(Disclaimer: This post has been auto published from IANS news agency without any modification to the text and has not been reviewed by editor)
