TIRULDIH, India — They took the young woman to her home and closed the door. Then the beating began.
“You are a witch”, an attacker shouted, while she, her parents and her uncle beat, kicked and slapped 26-year-old Durga Mahato.
After almost two hours, Mahato was pulled out by her hair, dragged through her village and dumped, unconscious, next to a temple.
The attack, in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand in 2021, was a sign that India is struggling to eradicate the ancient scourge of the witch hunt.
For centuries, superstition largely led to someone being labeled a witch. A crop failed, a well dried up, or a family member fell ill, and the villagers found someone, almost always a woman, to blame.
Accusations are now often a tool to oppress women, advocates for victims say. The motives may be to seize land, settle scores or justify violence.
Mahato said the problem started when he turned down sexual advances from a prominent man in town.. He, her brother, her wife, and her daughter declared her a witch before luring her into her home. All four have been charged under anti-witch-hunting laws; the man and his brother are out on bail after spending a few months in jail.
The witch hunt still exists in nearly a dozen Indian states, mainly in indigenous tribal areas in the central and eastern parts of the country, experts say. Many states have passed laws against the practice.
Women have had their fingernails pulled out, forced to eat feces or paraded around naked. They have been burned or lynched. From 2010 to 2021, more than 1,500 people were killed in India following witchcraft accusations, reports the National Crime Records Office.
The attack on Mahato was one of 854 witchcraft-related cases registered in Jharkhand in 2021, 32 of which resulted in deaths.
A state program there has deployed around 25 “witch hunt prevention campaign teams”, who put on street plays to raise awareness. Protection committees in the villages help the survivors. Centers have been created to provide legal assistance and short stays to victims. Workers call survivors to follow up on their psychological and economic state.
But law enforcement can be weak. Madhu Mehra, founder of a women’s legal resource group, said that in a study of three states, her organization found that police generally intervene only in cases of murder or attempted murder.
In Mahato’s case, the most helpful assistance came from another victim, Chhutni Mahato (not related), who has been recognized by the Indian government for her work in trying to eliminate the practice. Durga found shelter for weeks at Chhutni’s house after spending two weeks in the hospital.
Chhutni Mahato has helped more than 150 women.
One of them is Dukhu Majhi. The villagers wondered how a “normal woman” could live alone with her young children, deep in the forest, while her husband was away for work. Then they labeled her a witch.
In July, the villagers persecuted her with axes and sticks. She ran home; They tried to break down the door.
“I held on tight to my children. We were all shaking,” Majhi said.
She and her husband went to the police. Pintu Mahato, a police officer, said the village patriarchs had solved the case and they were all living happily together again. She clearly hadn’t been following the case.
In fact, Majhi had left her home. She and her family took refuge with Chhutni Mahato for a few days before finding a room near a larger city. Her husband found a new job.
By: SUHASINI RAJ
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6718047, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-05-17 22:40:08
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