BHUBANESWAR: Amid a rise in sorcery-related violence and Odisha reporting at least 50 such killings every year, the state government has decided to comprehensively overhaul its decade-old witch-hunting law.
Sources said the Law department has begun the process to amend the Odisha Prevention of Witch-hunting (OPW) Act, 2013, following recommendations of the State Law Commission, which was tasked to review the existing legislation and plug gaps that have allowed perpetrators to evade punishment and victims to suffer without adequate legal support.
According to reports, 606 people killed in sorcery-related incidents in the last 11 years with 12 districts under the grip of the menace. Mayurbhanj, Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Rayagada, Ganjam, Gajapati, Nabarangpur and Kandhamal districts are the worst-hit with as high as 67 per cent of murders triggered by witchcraft suspicion. In the last five years, as many as 408 cases were registered and 388 people arrested in connection with such incidents.
The draft amendment (accessed by TNIE) suggests making punishment more stringent, including invoking provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 for cases leading to death, imprisonment of seven years to life for abetment of suicide through witch-branding, and a minimum of five to 10 years imprisonment with fines up to Rs 5 lakh for public humiliation such as stripping and parading victims naked.
Punishment has also been provisioned for specific offences including some forms of torture, community involvement, abetment of offence, causing disappearance of evidence, use of criminal force for displacing a person from lawfully occupied property, damaging reputation and dignity, attributing misfortune and attempt to commit offences.
“The fines collected as punishment will be paid directly to victims and not clubbed with other government relief. Public servants who refuse to register cases, suppress evidence or downplay offences will be deemed abettors and punished under the same provisions,” read the draft.
The proposed amendment also mandates creation of special courts, rehabilitation schemes, medical and counselling support and district-level task forces to identify vulnerable areas, prepare annual action plans, and undertake awareness and prevention programmes in collaboration with social organisations and women’s groups.
While the State Commission for Women will be strengthened to monitor implementation of the act, panchayats and local residents will be legally bound to report suspected witch-hunting incidents to police. The government will also set up a task force at the district level to address witch-hunting and witch-branding in areas with recurring incidents.