RANCHI: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Jharkhand police have chalked out a plan of action to check incidents of witch-hunting, under which, local ‘Ojha-Guni’(exorcists) are being identified and made to furnish personal bonds. Police officials are not only keeping a close eye on them, but also calling them to the police stations and warning them not to spread superstition or strict action will be taken against them.
In addition to that, local SP s have been appointed as nodal officers, asking them to identify vulnerable areas and review the situation regularly.
According to police, profiles of every such people are being prepared and kept in the police stations so that quick action could be taken against them. Starting from Ranchi, nearly 75 such exorcists from Chanho, Mandar, McCluskieganj, Narkopi, Dasam, Tamar, Namkom, Angara and Tupudana have been identified.
“It has been observed that it is the exorcists who pick any particular person claiming that they are the reason behind anybody’s death, illness, sufferings or even financial problems in the village. Such people are even killed by the villagers,” said Naushad Alam, Rural Superintendent of Police, Ranchi.
“Interestingly, it was seen that such incidents have significantly reduced since we have started the drive,” said the SP. The SP said that help from the common people, local mukhiyas, chaukidars and NGOs are also being taken to identify such people. Senior police officials said that the objective behind furnishing personal bonds by local ‘Pahans’ is aimed at mounting moral pressure on them.
The objective behind making ‘Pahans’ furnish personal bonds is to mount moral pressure on them so that they inform the local administration as soon as they come across the possibility of any such incident taking place in their surroundings,” said a senior police official at police headquarters. Legal experts also asserted that after furnishing the personal bond, exorcists will be given some sort of moral responsibility that no such incident will take place in their knowledge.
According to the data available with Jharkhand police, 259 people got killed on suspicion of practising black magic in the last six years and 4,680 cases were lodged in different police stations all over the state.
Witch hunting, a recurring social evil in Jharkhand, took 27 lives in 2019, while 26 and 41 people were killed in 2018 in 2017, respectively.