Victims of witch-hunting at Patna: seeking legal recourseThe midnight knock has held an ominous significance since the days of the Emergency. But two decades later, in Pakri Barma village in Nawada district of Bihar, it conjures up terrifying visions of another sort in the mind of Shaguj Devi, 50. The knock came on November 24, from villagers demanding that she cure an ailing child in the neighbourhood. "Why don't you call theojha(witch doctor)?" she asked.They already had, but when he failed to cure the boy, he had told them that Shaguj Devi was a witch who had cast a spell on his patient. Shaguj Devi watched in horror as her daughter-in-law, Bimla, lynched when she confronted the crowd, writhed in the combined pain of labour and the wounds inflicted by the mob, before delivering a premature baby even as she breathed her last.The nightmare never ends. For Shaguj Devi and others like her in Bihar, one pointed finger is enough to condemn them to a lifetime of horrific experiences. Driven to desperation, about 25 such women met in Patna last week to find a legal solution to their problem. There appears a clear pattern in their predicament. The motive behind the witch-hunting is a property dispute, the failure of the local ojha to cure an ailing villager, or a woman's refusal to submit to the advances of an influential person. Says Prem Chand, a lawyer who runs the Free Legal Aid Committee (FLAC) in Jamshedpur which helps such women in south Bihar: "These women constantly live under the shadow of death because any villager who kills a witch is heralded as a hero." Official statistics show that about 84 women have been killed in West Singhbhum district in the past five years. The figure for the entire state - including Hazaribagh, Dumka, Santhal Pargana, Giridih and Gumla - is estimated at 300.FLAC is being aided in the campaign by Manakis and Mundas - administrative heads under a system started in south Bihar villages by the British. But, says Anto Hembrum, chief of the Manaki Munda Association, "our influence over the villagers is far less than that of the ojhas". Explains Girija Shankar Jaiswal, a lawyer who takes up such cases: "It's difficult to shake people's faith in witch doctors when hospitals are at such distances." Compounding the problem is the lack of legal provisions. As of now, all that the police can do is arrest any person branding a woman as a witch and charge him with attempting to breach the peace.But the campaign is gradually picking up. A draft bill - with provisions for the immediate arrest of witch doctors who target women - has been circulated among politicians and senior officials in Patna. And while most people remain pessimistic about the outcome (nothing came of the Government's promise, two years ago, to constitute a special monitoring cell), the social workers helping the "witches" are not disheartened. After Bihar, Prem Chand wants to move to "other states like Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra where the problem also exists".Until then, stories like that of Chandu Bandiya - a 20-year-old polio victim - will be an intrinsic part of Bihar's folklore. Seven members of her family were killed in village Paraya in 1995 after her mother was branded a dain (witch). Bandiya was gang-raped and "not one villager dared to come to my rescue, they were all under the influence of the ojha". The silver lining in her story: she was rescued by the then deputy commissioner of Chaibasa, Amit Khare, and now works in the kitchen of a college in the district. At the time, Khare had taken it upon himself to create awareness about witch-hunting in the region. Unfortunately, he was soon transferred and the work came to a halt. It's time the Government realised that the problem is far too serious to be just one man's responsibility..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}Published By: AtMigration Published On: Jan 12, 1998--- ENDS ---
