Rural India Targets Women in Witch Hunts
2500 'Witches' Murdered in 15 Years, Others Exiled
Witch hunting is a huge issue in the eastern states of India, which have large tribal populations with traditional beliefs about witches. In the last 15 years, more than 2500 Indian women have been killed in the name of witchcraft. According to FLAC, 670 of these women were murdered between 2004 and 2005.
In 2005, I witnessed the persecution of Budhaniya Majhi, and the horror and injustice of this modern-day witch hunt. I have worked as a journalist for the past ten years. I visited a remote village in Angara Block, on the suburbs of Ranchi, the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand, where a witch hunting trial would take place.
At a "public meeting" men gathered in small groups as everyone turned to stare at a woman who was being dragged in by two men. Budhaniya Majhi was extremely fragile. Her face was bruised and bloated from beatings; she had been dragged naked through the village the previous evening. Welt marks showed where the sticks had fallen mercilessly on her slender frame.
The village headman, who acted as the presiding judge, asked a man standing near him: "Do you have proof that this woman is a witch?"
The man said thathis father had fallen ill and died after consuming food she gave him. "When my father died," he added, "a black cat crossed the threshold of our house. It was black magic what killed my father." The entire gathering nodded gravely on hearing this. The village's verdict was clear.
The village council sentenced her to leave the village in two days. Nobody was allowed to offer her or her baby any kind of assistance, not even food or water. As a single woman and outsider, if I had tried to defend Budhaniya in front of the gathering, she would have been killed for using her powers to have "foreigners" rescue her.
Budhaniya said, "I have a sister in Ranchi, but I don't know whether her in-laws will let her help me, especially if they know about this incident." We took her and her child with us to Ranchi. Too many women remain powerless, vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft, leveled so that unscrupulous people can take over land and settle scores and family rivalries.
Budhaniya has started a new life, working as a maid to support herself and her daughter in Ranchi.
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Comments
How awful for this poor woman. I lived in the Middle East for a year and I remember all sorts of strange customs regarding bad luck and devils. Too bad that woman couldn't come to the US and start a new life here. She and her child are two people who really deserve it..
Love will find a way.
I live in Jharkhand and this is just one of the many incidents that happen to take advantage of the poor, unaware people living in remote areas.
and yes i've heard about these witch hunting many times..where women ranging all ages... suffer but to read it like this ...in a story form ..it really shakes us from inside ..touches us soo deeply...the feeling of helplesness..but above all raises the question..what could be done???
its really unfair that women suffer and most of the time these cases do not come into light.
but yes all we can do is to spread awareness not just in villages but in cities too ...so majority take a stand against this.
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