Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Witch Hunting of Tribal Women (Reasons for victimisation? ((Lack of…
Witch Hunting of Tribal Women
Issue?
On International Day of the World‘s Indigenous Peoples (August 9), a most common form of violence against tribal women i.e branding them as witches, is being remembered.
Reasons for victimisation?
A combination of superstitious beliefs, religious practices and patriarchal norms.
to deprive women of land
and property.
To take revenge refuse sexual advances and
to punish women for petty disputes.
Lack of education and health services have contributed to the continuation of this antiquated practice of witch hunting.
This is because perpetrators are often members of their own family, neighbourhood and community.
Moreover, the identity politics of adivasivs non-adivasiovertake the reality of patriarchal violence within the adivasi community.
Society and governments are hardly outraged over it. As a result of this lethargic response and action, accused goes unpunished.
The complexity of this issue and its punitive dimensions can be found in the blurring of boundaries between protector and perpetrator.
any legislation on this?
NCRB data and police records show that the practise is more prevalent in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh , West Bengal, Rajasthan and Assam.
There is no specific national level legislation that penalises Witch hunting.
Hence various provisions and sections under the Indian Penal Code 1860 are being invoked for taking
legislative actions.
Different states have also come up with different legislations.
Way forward
The country must recognize that witch-hunting is very real.
Strict enforcement as well as implementation of Anti-witchcraft laws by the states will work to prevent this.
Sensitizing of police and welfare department and establishment of NGO‘s for this purpose could prove
beneficial.
Witch hunting
Witch hunting involves the branding of
victims, especially women as witches.
They are accused of possessing
supernatural powers to harm others.
They are subjected to numerous forms of torture, beatings, burns paraded naked through village, forced to eat human excrement and raped.
In victim and their children are socially
excluded or even put to death.