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100 Per Cent Increase In Witch-Hunting & Honour Killings In Jharkhand

In 2023, murders related to witch-hunting and honour killings increased by 100 per cent in Jharkhand. The 2023 NCRB report shows the state recorded 22 such murders, double the 11 cases in 2022.

Outlook Magazine March 2023 Issue
Summary
  • 2023 NCRB data shows a 100 per cent rise in witch-hunting-related murders of women in Jharkhand

  • According to data, India sees about 95 witch-hunting related murders each year on average.

  • Outlook magazine in its March 2023 issue explored the crimes of witch-hunting and the toll such accusations take on the accused women.

Jharkhand has registered a 100 per cent rise in killings linked to witch-hunting and honour killings in India in 2023, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports. The state recorded 22 such murders, doubled from 2022, when 11 cases were reported.

NCRB data shows the total number of such murders across India was 74. After Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh had 19 cases and Madhya Pradesh had 14.

The number of such murders has decreased since 2020, when NCRB recorded 88 murders related to witch-hunting. That year, Madhya Pradesh led with 17 cases and Jharkhand reported 15.

However, between 2015 and 2021, NCRB recorded 663 murders motivated by witch-hunting or fear of witchcraft. About 95 such killings happened each year on average. While there is no central law against witch-hunting or witchcraft accusations, some states have enacted federal laws. Bihar passed the Prevention of Witch (Daain) Practices Act in 1999. 

In its March 2023 issueEvery Woman is a Potential Witch, Outlook magazine explored the horror of such crimes, pointing out that witch hunting is a war against women, a terrifying manifestation of the oppression of women in India today.

In When A ‘Witch’ Fights Back, Abhik Bhattacharya and Md. Asghar Khan had a candid interview with Padma Shri awardee Chutni Mahato, who spoke about her travails after she was branded a witch.

In The Deep Roots of Misogyny, Abhik Bhattacharya wrote about how violence against, and the murder of, women deemed witches is a regular part of life in various parts of India. What will change this, he asked.

S Bosu Mullick analysed the persecution of women as witches, focusing on the economic perspective in The Land Where Every Woman Is A Witch And Every Man Is A Witch Finder

Govind Kelkar and Dev Nathan enumerated the ways of raising consciousness about the negative aspects of culture and the impact of witch hunting on a sustained basis in the Understanding The Social Basis Of Witch Hunting Is Key To Ending It

Jyoti Kumari wrote on the horrors Geeta Devi, an older woman, had to undergo at the hands of fellow villagers, who not only lynched and banished her from the village in The Cult Of Jai Gurudev Sangh And Invention Of Witches In Jharkhand's Gumla

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Swati Shikha looked into the mental health effects of being marked a witch in Who Cares About The Mental Health Of Victims Of Witch Hunting?

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