GUWAHATI: National-level javelin thrower Debojani Bora, 51, was attending a mass prayer at a community hall in her village in Karbi Anglong district of Assam last year, when the man leading it suddenly grabbed her by the neck and began raining punches on her. Soon others joined in.
Fortunately, she managed to flee. At Rowta in Udalguri district, some 250 km north-west of Karbi Anglong, the locals hatched a conspiracy to murder one Lakhyamati Daimary, 40. When they failed in their attempt, they banished Lakhyamati and her family from the village.
Both these women had been branded witches. The locals claimed that black magic, allegedly practiced by these women, was the reason behind the unknown diseases and deaths in the villages. But Debojani and Lakhyamati say they were victims of the “jealousy” of some people.
According to Assam police, witch-hunting has claimed as many as 132 lives in the state between 2002 and 2012. However, despite the Gauhati High Court’s directives, the ruling Congress government in the state has not enacted anti-witch-hunting laws to tackle the social menace.
Majority of the victims have been women and children. There have also been several other cases of torture, which have gone unreported. Even more horrific are the methods of identifying a witch. One way is to consult the village astrologer, who can divine the identity of a witch. Another is by torturing the sick person. When the torture becomes unbearable, the patient is forced to reveal the name of the alleged witch, who is then hunted down.
Assam police officer Kulo Saikia, who has been handling such cases, says once the alleged witch is killed, her body is cut into pieces and buried. This practice stems from the belief that if the body is not cut into bits, it will lead to the rebirth of the witch. While superstition has fuelled such brutality among the illiterate villagers, social researchers, as well as most victims, say its causes are often jealousy, rivalry and disputes.
The locals in Debojani’s village were “envious” of her. She has won a gold medal at the national level in the past and represented Assam in several national championships. Lakhyamati was targeted because she is pretty and eked out a good living by cooking in the village school. She was also helping illiterate women in the village open bank accounts. “The attack on me was planned,” says Debojani, “Some people were jealous of my feats.” The attack on Debojani sparked off widespread protests and her attackers had to publicly beg for forgiveness from her. But Lakhyamati was not so lucky. It was months before she and her family could return to their village.
The social organisation ‘Brothers’, which has been organizing awareness campaigns against such social evils in remote villages for over a decade now, also identified jealousy, conspiracy and disputes as the main reasons for witch-hunting.
“In most cases, we found that some educated people with ulterior motives had incited a large number of people by cooking up stories against individuals to be targeted. The mob is mostly made up of illiterate people who are easily swayed by superstitious beliefs,” says Brothers general secretary and social activist Dibyajyoti Saikia.
Witch-hunting is common in Assam’s tea belt and tribal areas where the literacy rate is abysmal. Two years back, 35 people in the river island Majuli were forced to go through a “purification” process after a teenager, who claimed he was possessed by goddess Lakshmi, had declared them witches.
Though the victims were fortunate enough to escape the ultimate punishment of death, they were kept in confinement for 22 days and humiliated.
Dibyajyoti says the state government has to wake up to the situation. He alleges that the departments concerned are not doing enough to curb this practice. “Given the spurt in witch-hunting cases, there should have been large-scale awareness campaigns by now. People need to be educated that when an infant dies, it is not due to spells cast by evil spirits or black magic practiced by someone,” he says.
The activist says there should also be classes on the subject in the village schools. “The police are also very inactive. Unless people are educated and the government serious about it, things will not change,” he adds. Cops argue it becomes difficult to take action in such cases in the absence of anti-witch-hunting laws.
In November 2014, the Gauhati High Court had prodded the ruling Congress government in the state to enact stringent laws to tackle the problem. The government has not promulgated anti-witch-hunting laws despite several assurances in the past. The HC pointed out the current measures would not help prevent the cases and directed the government to be harsh on those indulging in witch-hunting.
