1

Witch hunting of the Adivasi Women in Jharkhand

I. Abstract
Criminalisation against women is a cultural practice. Witch hunting is an instrument of
class as well as gender oppression used by the propertied classes against the Adivasi
women. It is constructed as primarily originating in evil practices, irrationality and
superstition. Superstition, health, illiteracy and property are the four major reasons for
witchcraft incidents in Jharkhand. The socio-legal evidence from Jharkhand which
already has a special law on witch hunting shows their inefficacy in dealing with witch
hunting and related forms of violence. Criminalisation of witch hunting through special
laws is an inadequate response to the problem which has much in common with other
forms of violence. There is a need to focus on accountability and reform of the agencies
that activate the criminal justice system and to plug the vacuum in relation to reparative
justice.

II. Introduction
Jharkhand women in tribal society are not of as low status as are women in mainstream
Hindu society. Both in the family and in society, Adivasi women certainly have a more
prominent position than do women in the developed class society of the plains. But this
relatively superior position should not blind one either to its rapid erosion or to the
'traditional' inequalities.
Witch hunting has become a burning issue in the state. Even state Government has
stepped in with an anti-witch hunting law. Still, the witch-hunts continue. While both
men and women fall victim to this pernicious practice, predominantly women bear the
brunt of this heinous crime. Every year, around 200 women suspected of practising
witchcraft is killed in Jharkhand1. Such practices cause a gross violation of basic human
rights and contravene the letter and spirit of the universal declaration of human rights.
Witch hunting involves the branding of victims, especially women as witches, either
after an observation made by an 'Ojha’2. The victim who is branded as a witch is
subjected to numerous forms of torture, beatings, and burns, paraded naked through the
village, forced to eat human excrement, drink urine and sometimes even raped. In some

1
According to the National Crime Bureau records, as many as 1,157 women were branded as witch and
killed in Jharkhand between 1991 and 2010. Ranchi leads among other districts with 250 cases of witch-
hunting in ten years
2
Ojhas are witch doctors known under different names in different areas
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cases, their hair is cut off and the victim and their children are socially ostracised and
even put to death.

III. Adivasi women: Situations and Struggles

When India gained its independence in 1947, the British rulers were replaced by a
democratic republic, the higher castes came to represent the country's most 'civilised' and,
according to the newly formed constitution, the Adivasis were given a special status as
Scheduled Tribe. On paper, that special status guarantees them certain privileges in
education, income security and social benefits but in reality, the Adivasis are still treated
as wild, uncivilised and uncontrollable by the Government institutions. Thus, when
conducted among the 'wild' and 'incorrigible', witch hunts are not viewed as such an
aberration.
There are two crucial areas of inequality among the tribal people -property rights and
political participation. In all the Jharkhand tribes, property, particularly land, passes
through the male line. Along with this, it is the practice that women after marriage go to
stay in their husbands' homes. So, the society is both patrilineal and patrilocal. Further,
women perform a major portion of the total social labour. The result of their labour is
accumulation in male hands. It is mainly as widows that they do have some definite rights
in land. But these rights have been eroded over time. Against the earlier right of widows
to manage their late husbands' lands, until their minor sons grow up, and even after that
to continue to keep a part of the land for their own maintenance, it has now become
merely a right to be maintained, that is, to be fed and clothed which does not leave the
women with any independence of action. The right to manage land, including the right to
mortgage it, is a far superior right, one which leaves the woman with considerable scope
for deciding her own affairs. But such a usufructuary3 right comes in conflict with the
desires of the late husband's male relatives to grab the land. It is the struggle to degrade
this residual usufructuary right that is the political economy of witch hunting. The

3
Usufruct is a limited real right (or in rem right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unite the
two property interests of usus and fructus: Usus (user) is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, directly
and without altering it.
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question of granting land rights to women has often been seen as a matter that would
affect the integrity of tribal society.
A casual perusal of standard compilations of caste practices, such as Hira Lal's
Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces, indicates that belief in witchcraft was quite
widespread in colonial India. In the early 19th century, one official had speculated that
around a thousand women had been killed as witches in the plains of central India alone
in the previous thirty years, far exceeding those who died as satis4 (Lal, 1916).
Victims of witch hunting are mostly single, childless, unmarried or old women,
usually widows. For those who are lucky enough to live after the accusations, they often
are forced to move to a new area without resources to start their lives over and live under
constant fear of attacks after being branded witches by the local people (R.E.Enthoven,
2005). According to a survey done by ASHA last year, more than 150 women have been
branded witches in twenty-one blocks and seventy-eight gram panchayats of the State.

IV. Unfolding the reasons behind witch hunting

The practice of witch hunting is connected to the prevalence of patriarchal attitudes
and an opposition to women's rights over property in Jharkhand. Lack of education and
health services have contributed to the continuation of this antiquated practice of witch
hunting. In tribal villages where superstition is rife and the public health system is in a
shambles, women are blamed for crop failures, illnesses and natural calamities and
hunted, often as an excuse to steal their property or due to problems in the family or for
sexual exploitation; someone or the other benefiting from the death. Single women,
widows or old couples are the main targets. The social boycott which follows is the most
feared punishment.
Some of the more popular explanations are property disputes, epidemics and local
politics that erupt into gendered conflicts against local Adivasi women. For example,
Adivasi widows are persecuted as 'widows' by their husband‟s kin. The accused women
are mostly childless widows whose land will pass on to their nearest male relative after
their death. By accusing them of practising witchcraft, those relatives can inherit the land
immediately. The limited rights become crucial during witch hunts as the land that

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Satis are the widows immolated on the pyres of their husbands
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belongs to the woman could be transferred to her husband‟s relatives if they are able to
discredit her claim.
Witch killings are also an act of the Land Mafia. Miscreants use social superstitions
to uproot families from the land they have an eye on and later acquire their property at
throwaway prices. The importance of Adivasi land has increased in recent years as these
areas have been found to be rich in minerals and forest produce, resulting in the unlawful
encroachment by both the Government and corporations and thereby making the land a
scarce and highly valuable resource within these communities. But land is not at the root
of all accusations.
Jharkhand has some of the worst health facilities in the country and this teamed with
illiteracy which is thirty-four per cent among tribal people, marginalisation and
Government corruption results in a reliance upon ojhas when diseases such as malaria or
cholera strike. The ojhas serve as both medicine man and mediator, dealing with the daily
troubles of the people. Due to the lack of development and unavailability of doctors in the
villages, the villagers have no choice but to rely on the Ojhas, who eventually fleece the
poor. Moreover, the ojhas are not just acting according to superstitions but are often
supported by vested interests – economic, political and social. What is more, they are
viewed as religious leaders, whose closeness to God and special skills and knowledge
allows them to play an active role in saving their communities from epidemics. When
they fail to „cure‟ someone, they blame a helpless woman of the village as witches who
are preventing the cure.
Also, killing a woman who is branded as a witch does not come under Section 302 of
IPC but under Section 34 of the Prevention of Witch Practices Act. This is just like
legitimising and promoting witch hunting. Conviction is less than one per cent of the
reported cases.
Moreover, to understand contemporary witch hunts, one has to understand how the
social crisis caused by economic liberalism has transformed, uprooted and plundered
communities - forcing people to compete for limited resources. Thus while one should
not underestimate the misogyny that these hunts reveal, Government bodies and
international financial institutions are equally responsible for witchcraft accusations.
Witch hunts then become a part of the eternal class struggle, where the hunts become a
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coping strategy through which the Adivasis seek to make sense of the disruption in their
social, political and economic life. The Adivasi workers whose livelihoods have for
generations been tied to the oppressive structure of the factories, protests against their
management would result in the loss of their jobs and their only source of income. It is,
therefore, easier to attribute their misery and misfortune to witchcraft rather than the
exploitative nature of their labour.
These important religious, economic, political and social figures legitimise witch
hunts by confirming the supposed involvement of witchcraft in any ill fortune, while
village level politics serve to further support and encourage villagers in their hunt for
witches. Sixteen years since the State was formed, no discussion on witch-hunt has taken
place in the Jharkhand Assembly (Sahay 2016).

V. The Pathway to Halt Witch hunting

Education and medical care in rural areas are an urgent necessity to drive out this
mess. Moreover, civil societies, medical bodies, educational bodies, the police and local
bodies have to work hand-in-hand to educate the people and make them aware.
To eradicate the menace at its roots and the Government will have to prioritise and
enforce its laws very strictly. Despite the law, Witchcraft Prevention Act5, 2001 which
was originally introduced in Bihar, complaints of victims are still not being registered
under this section of the law. The accused are usually booked for beating and atrocities
under the other sections. In villages, victims don‟t even go to the police. They believe
that the police won‟t help them at all.
The tribal people have been treated as mere receivers of the benefits and they have
not been involved either in the decision-making progress or in formulation or
implementation of the plans and programmes. As the problems of the tribal people are
unique, it is essential that they are actively involved in planning as well as in the
implementation of the programmes along with tougher laws and their proper

5
Under this law, the punishment for identifying a woman as witch is imprisonment for up to three months
and/or a fine of Rs.1,000. Similarly, causing harm to anyone in the name of witchcraft can lead to
imprisonment for up to six months and/or a fine of Rs.2,000 and Ojhas found practising sorcery can be
jailed for up to a year and/or fined Rs.2,000. All of these are cognisable and non-bailable offences.
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implementation. Effective participation of the tribal people, especially women in decision

making would not only bring about successful implementation of the programmes but
also create confidence among them in the policies of the Government. Such an approach
would make the planned efforts of the Government more meaningful. The most effective
way to curb this social evil is to educate women and give them political freedom. These
evil practices can be fought only by empowering women.

VI. Conclusion
Archer Deepika Kumari and hockey player Asunta Lakra are among few women
who have made Jharkhand proud. It is women empowerment in a state that is just sixteen
years old and has remained underdeveloped for a long time. However, a closer look at the
social contours of Jharkhand makes a claim of enlightenment a farce with the rising cases
of witch hunting. Witch hunting is not just the result of superstition or deep-rooted
beliefs. It is an instrument of class as well as gender oppression used by the propertied
classes by recruiting Adivasi people as unconscious accomplices.
Property disputes, land rights of women and gender conflicts are some of the other
reasons. These practices persist not only due to the social sanctions which are given to
them but also because the police do not treat these crimes equivalent to murders.
By failing to address accusations of witchcraft as a serious problem, the Government
is allowing supposed witches to be used as a false consciousness for the Adivasis. When
the Prime Minister has undertaken this huge exercise of demonetisation and digital India,
the practice of hunting witches shows that we still live in the dark ages. India is shining
but the lustre will be magnified only when the socio-economic issues of women,
particularly the Dalit and Adivasi, will improve.

VII. References
National Crime Records Bureau. 2012.
http://ncrb.nic.in/CD-CII2012/Statistics2012.pdf (accessed on December 29, 2016)
Deepesh Shrestha; in Pyutar for AFP."Witch-hunts of low-caste women in Nepal". The Telegraph 2016.
http://www.telegraph.com/news/national/The-%E2%80%98witches%E2%80%9article16933528.ece
(accessed on January 6, 2017)
Skaria, Ajay.1991.Women, witchcraft and violence in colonial India. Past & Present 155 (May): 109–141.
Ranganathan, Shubha (2014): “The Rationalist Movement against Quack Healing: Critical
Questions,” Economic & Political Weekly, Vol 49, No 1, pp 13–15.
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Witchcraft claims live of four women in Jharkhand. Times of India . 2017.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Witch-hunts-killed-156-in-India-in-
2014/articleshow/51434574.cms (accessed on January 8, 2017)
A curse in the family: Can survivors of witch hunts in India change traditional beliefs to stop the brutal
practice? 2013. Al Jazeera
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/06/magazine-meet-indian-women-hunted-witches-
150603092941061.html (accessed on January 8, 2017)
Shiv Sahay Singh. “Witches of Jharkhand.” The Hindu. 2016.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/The-%E2%80%98witches%E2%80%99-of-
Jharkhand/article16933528.ece (accessed January 9, 2017)
Prat, Andrea, and David Strömberg. “The political economy of witch hunting in India.” CEPR Discussion
Paper No. P8246, 2011.