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They are lynched, hacked, their heads shaved, sexually assaulted, made to eat faeces, disrobed. This is the plight of women branded daayans ( witches ) in India; the widespread and deeply gendered phenomenon of witch-hunting prevails in the country 78 years after Independence, and yet remains curiously invisible. “The only time it becomes visible is in cases of death [nearly 98 per cent of witch-hunting deaths involve women].
But these women are not just dying; they live in isolation, are stigmatised and stripped of dignity,” says Dipta Bhog from Nirantar Trust, a community-level feminist research and advocacy organisation based in Delhi. According to a survey conducted by the Trust in Bihar in 2023-24, this practice continues after 25 years of the passage of the Prevention of Witch Practices Act, 1999. “At least 75,000 women—possibly two or more women per village in Bihar—live under the constant threat that comes with being accused of being a daayan ,” Bhog told Frontline .
Nationally, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), over 2,500 women have been killed on charges of witchcraft since 2000. The persistence of these crimes is symptomatic of the confluence of deep-rooted patriarchy and government apathy. According to the Bihar survey, which involved conversations with 145 women from 114 villages, nearly 75 per cent of women who were victims of violence due to accusations of witchcraft, were between the ages of 46 and 66, with an overwhelming 97 per cent belonging to Dalit, Backward or Extremely Backward Castes.
Most of them belonged to landless households. “What’s striking is that upper-caste women are almost never targeted. Nobody would dare accuse them,” said Bhog.
The survey also found that 73 per cent of these women had never attended school, and 66 per cent didn’t have a regular source of income. Due to their economic vulnerability and limited education, they are easy targets. Alarmingly, only 31 per cent of the victims reported their cases to the police or panchayats, and even among those who did, 62 per cent found no resolution.
Moreover, 85 per cent of the surveyed village leaders were unaware of the 1999 Act. The NCRB’s Crime in India Report 2022 provides the context. It reveals that nearly 85 people were killed in witchcraft-related murders across India that year alone.
Over the past decade, from 2012 to 2022, 1,184 people lost their lives in violence related to witch-hunting. Most victims were from Jharkhand (22.6 per cent), Odisha (16.
1 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (15.1 per cent), and Chhattisgarh (13.1 per cent).
Also Read | Witch-hunts in Orissa Among the women surveyed, 78 per cent endured severe mental harassment, 32 per cent faced verbal abuse, and 28 per cent experienced social ostracism. Other forms of violence included economic deprivation, forced consumption of human faeces, head-shaving, and sexual violence. Activist Laxmi Sahu, who works with women across villages in Bihar against gender-based violence, spoke of the lack of institutional support.
“The government provides no help or support in rehabilitating these women. In cases where extreme physical violence has been inflicted upon the woman, it is we who take them to the hospital. Villagers refuse to even touch her, let alone help her once she has been labelled a daayan .
” Survivors often suffer profound psychological trauma. “Most of these women go numb; they won’t speak for weeks. It’s incredibly challenging to approach them.
We tread very carefully, creating a safe space for them to open up,” Sahu explained. Social ostracism compounds their struggles. “Once accused, the woman is shunned by society.
People won’t work with her or buy from her shop. How is she supposed to make a livelihood?” Sahu asked. Six States—Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Assam—have laws criminalising witchcraft, while Maharashtra and Karnataka have laws against black magic and superstition, though they do not specifically address witchcraft.
Despite these State laws, enforcement remains inconsistent, as Ajay Jaiswal, founder of the Association for Social and Human Awareness (ASHA), non-profit organisation based in Jharkhand, pointed out. “We talk about the law, but there is no actual implementation on the ground. If you go to a police station to file a report, many police officers won’t even know that these provisions exist,” he said.
“We talk about the law, but there is no actual implementation on the ground. If you go to a police station to file a report, many police officers won’t even know that these provisions exist.” Ajay Jaiswal Founder of the Association for Social and Human Awareness Jaiswal also highlighted disparities in the stringency of existing State laws.
“The law in Assam, for instance, is significantly more stringent compared to other States. In Assam, accusing a woman of being a daayan, or harassing her based on such accusations, can lead to life imprisonment and a fine of up to Rs.5 lakh.
” This lack of uniformity in laws has created gaps in addressing witch-craft-related violence, according to Jaiswal, especially in States that lack specific legislations. In 2022, after two witch-craft-related killings were reported in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) had called for a new State legislation; however, no further action was taken. In 2021, Jharkhand launched “Project Garima”, which aimed at uprooting the gruesome practice of branding women witches and included provisions for rehabilitating survivors through counselling and skill training.
Several attempts have been made to introduce central legislation. Former Rajya Sabha Congress MP Bimba Raikar had proposed The Women and Girls (Prevention of Stripping, Teasing, Molestation, Branding as Witches and Offering as Devadasis) Bill in 2003, which was withdrawn the same year. In 2016, former BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Raghav Lakhanpal introduced a private member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha to address witch-hunting.
The Bill, however, did not progress in Parliament. In 2022, his party colleague and former MP, Sujeet Kumar, introduced the Prevention of Prohibition Witch-Branding and Witch-Hunting and Other Harmful Practices Bill in the Rajya Sabha, but it remains pending. A human skull held by a ‘tantrik’ who spreads superstition and witchcraft.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Despite the devastating impact of witch-hunting, there is a glaring absence of concerted effort, at both national and State levels, to address the issue. Panchayats, police, and local authorities, which play a pivotal role in community governance, have remained largely passive. According to Bhog, panchayats should be made key stakeholders in combating witchcraft-related violence and holding ojhas (traditional healers) accountable for their role in perpetuating such accusations.
State-level helplines, for women who have faced discrimination or are at the risk of being targeted as “witches”, should be established. Income increase: A grave risk In the absence of a specific provision under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita , witch-hunting cases are addressed using general provisions related to wrongful restraint and confinement, causing grievous hurt, kidnapping, murder, and rape. However, these provisions fail to account for the socio-cultural aspects of witch-hunting and the systemic violence it perpetuates.
Jaiswal recalls a story from Jharkhand’s Mandar village, where five women were killed on the suspicion of practising witchcraft. “The woman’s son was with the Border Security Force serving the nation, and while his mother was branded a daayan and killed,” Jaiswal recounted. “It was later found out that she and other women were protesting against liquor consumption in their village and raising awareness about it.
The accusations were a way to silence them.” The survey highlights that these crimes, often framed as acts of witch-hunting, are not solely driven by superstition but by economic factors and the threat posed by “independent” women. According to the survey, the most significant reason driving these accusations included an increase in the income of women or their families (42 per cent).
Also Read | Bihar: Death and deceit Women who are outspoken, assertive, or assume leadership roles within their communities are often targeted as they seem to defy traditional gender norms. Nirantar Trust’s survey showed that 56 per cent of women accused as witches were in some type of leadership position. The incident in Mandar reflects this trend: the women who were actively campaigning against the consumption of liquor were singled out and attacked, reflecting the societal discomfort with women stepping outside prescribed roles and challenging the male-dominated power structures in the village.
In most cases, the initial accusations are made by individuals close to the woman. According to the survey, 48 per cent of accusations come from in-laws, 44 per cent from neighbours of a different caste or religion, and 7 per cent from families of the same caste or religion. These accusations are often “confirmed” by ojhas , who provide vague justifications that perpetuate the stigma.
Once the accusations gain momentum, the neighbours and ultimately the entire village subject the woman to mental and physical harassment. For women accused of being witches, life becomes a daily battle for survival. “They live in isolation, often returning to their parental homes because they’ve been ostracised by their in-laws.
They experience profound loneliness and, in many cases, even begin to internalise the narrative,” Bhog said. Bhog observes that when it comes to witch-hunting, there is a pervasive chuppi (silence). “The women’s movement often talks about breaking the silence, but in this case, the silence is overwhelming.
This issue is rarely spoken about openly: it is only whispered,” she said. CONTRIBUTE YOUR COMMENTS SHARE THIS STORY Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit.
