New Delhi: Witch hunts have a new victim—the married woman. A survey across 114 villages in Bihar found that 83 per cent of witch-hunting cases involve married women or those who live with their families. And in nearly half of the cases, family members are involved.
These findings challenge the stereotype of single women—unmarried or widowed—as the target of witch hunts. It also calls to question the belief that ignorance and illiteracy fuel such acts of violence. The survey revealed that 56 per cent of women attacked held some form of leadership position or were very vocal about local issues.
Around 42 per cent of the women said jealousy over their financial status motivated attacks and accusations.
“Witch-hunting is both domestic and public violence. It can start out at home, in the family or in the neighbourhood, and stem from domestic reasons or discord, but culminate in a public display of violence,” said Archana Dwivedi, executive director of Nirantar Trust, which conducted the survey along with women federations from Bihar. The report, ‘The Dark Realities of Witch-Hunting: New Evidence from Bihar’—released earlier this month—documents the experiences of women who are at the receiving end of this practice. The survey was conducted to mark 25 years of the Bihar Prevention of Witch (Dayan) Practices Act 1999.
According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), over 25,000 women have been killed on charges of witchcraft since 2000. The 2022 NCRB report, recorded 85 murders in the name of witchcraft.
“Bihar, which has nearly 45,000 villages, witnesses two cases of witch hunting every day in each village. Despite the existence of a law against witch hunting in Bihar, there is no proper legal intervention to address the issue,” said Santosh Sharma, who leads Nirantar’s work in Bihar.
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No help from the government
It was a challenge for the surveyors to speak to the 145 women across 10 districts. Family members and villagers often pressured the surveyors to leave the village and hand over the accused, or sometimes even attacked them.
“Many times women would cry while telling their stories. They were paraded naked in the streets of the village or their hair was forcibly shaved off, or they were made to eat sewage,” said Laxmi Sahu, secretary of Bihar Mahila Federation, who spoke at the event.
India, which occasionally witnesses witch-hunting cases from various parts of the country, does not have a nationwide law addressing the issue. Section 323 of the Indian Penal Code, which details the punishment for ‘voluntarily causing hurt’, is used to deal with such cases.
However, six states—Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, and Assam—have specific laws targeting the practice. Meanwhile, Maharashtra and Karnataka have legislation that broadly covers witch hunting along with other superstitions.
But the laws aren’t enough. Even though there are provisions within the legal framework to fight this, “adhikaaris (officials) and the police are not aware of it.”
“Even though Assam has one of the strongest anti-witch hunting laws on paper, we struggle to get even a single FIR registered. The police often ask us, ‘Madam, how is this different from other kinds of violence or domestic violence?’,” said Mamoni Saikya, a social activist and federation leader from Assam.
Nearly 78 per cent of the women surveyed have endured severe mental harassment, 32 per cent have been subjected to verbal abuse or taunts, and 28 per cent who faced social ostracism and boycotts. None of these women have ever received help or aid from the authorities or the government.
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Ojhas the mind behind
Ajay Jaiswal, lawyer and founder of ASHA, Jharkhand, who was instrumental in shaping the anti-witch hunting laws in Bihar and Jharkhand, was also a panellist at the event. He shared how deeply rooted the fear of witch-hunting is.
Caste and class have also played a significant role in these cases of violence. According to the survey, 97 per cent of the women subjected to witchcraft-related violence belong to Dalit, backward, or extremely backward classes.
“In Jharkhand, we often get calls from women who cannot sleep because of the fear of being killed in the middle of the night. Sometimes they are labelled witches because they come from a tribal community that traditionally makes alcohol. Logic evades these killings. It is a stigma that women, their children and even their husbands carry,” said Jaiswal.
The panellists also shared that these cases have increased in rural areas, especially during the monsoon season when diseases like dengue and malaria are on the rise. He blames ‘ojhas’ (traditional healers or spiritual leaders) for inciting people to believe in such superstitions.
“In these types of cases, ojhas take advantage of people’s fear. They claim to have the ability to identify or “cure” witches and start targeting vulnerable individuals, especially women from the very first moment—encouraging the community to take action against them,” said Jaiswal.
Calling for awareness campaigns against witch-hunting and state-level helplines through government channels, Sharma also highlighted the role of panchayats. She emphasised that panchayat members should be aware of the laws against witch hunting and should actively provide support to the victims.
“Witch hunting is akin to the cruel practice of Sati. Just as we ended Sati, witch-hunting must also be brought to an end. There is an urgent need to discuss and resolve this issue,” added Sharma.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)
madam almina, the heading” witch hunting” is apt to what you ascribing as “Dayan”, Witch hunting was an activity in europe where the women were made to run in forest and they were hunted down by men as men considered that women donot have soul. whereas here in Bhartiya Indian Society women who cast evil or bad intention on family life of other families are locally referred as Dayan or evil woman. So fundamentally its the act of that woman which is considered. This calling a woman is a bad social practice and should be vociferously condemned and people should stand against it and inform law protectors immediately. But in no way, witch Hunting which is a Gender-cidal term is equal to this bad social practice.