‘Witchcraft’ cases 557, accused ‘booked’ 69

PATNA: Bihar witnessed 557 incidents of assault on women for allegedly practising witchcraft in 2014, out of which police could file chargesheet against only 69 accused. According to police records, the victim women were either assaulted, paraded naked, tonsured or forced to drink urine.
Arvind Pandey, ADG, CID (weaker section), said, “Humiliation for these women doesn't end with lodging an FIR as they are kicked out of family and village and forced to spend life in isolation.In most cases, the women die waiting for justice. In most cases, relatives accuse a widow of practising witchcraft to grab her property. Most cases are prompted by illness of some family members of those attacking such women.”
“When things go wrong in a village or family – an illness or death, bad crop or an accident – villagers tend to blame some vulnerable member of the community who is usually childless, widow or lonely woman,” Pandey added.
According to data available with the state police headquarters, the maximum number of these ‘witchcraft’ cases (102) were reported from East Champaran district, but no chargesheet was filed. Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Gaya districts reported 76, 75 and 32 cases, respectively. Twelve cases from Patna and 13 cases from Nalanda were also reported. Taking cognizance of atrocities against women in the state, the Bihar Human Rights Commission had sought progress report from the state police last month.
No case of witchcraft was reported in districts like Bhojpur, Kaimur, Jehanabad, Saran, Gopalganj, Araria, Kishanganj, Lakhisarai and Jamui.
According to a Patna district court lawyer, hundreds of cases in remote villages go unreported. The conviction rate in reported cases since the introduction of Bihar Witchcraft Prevention Act, 2001 is just 30 per cent. Most of the cases await final hearing.