DOBRO GAGRAI AND his wife Sonai Gagrai were fished out of a pond near their village. They were residents of Chaibasa, Jharkhand. Heavy stones were found attached to the bodies of the couple.

According to the police and the villagers, the couple was prey to a cold blooded murder because Sonai was branded a witch. Dobro’s cousin Mukhi Gagrai alleged that she was responsible for his son’s illness and practised black magic to prevent him from getting better.

Such cases are quite common in many parts of India including Jharkhand and Bihar. According to the police records, at least four to five cases of witch hunting are reported every month in Jharkhand. This gruesome incident brought to my mind some experiences of my childhood. I was at a relative’s place when I was ushered inside a room with my plate of food. Later on I found out that it was not proper to have food in front of a certain woman who had come on a visit.

At that time I did not know that this certain woman was believed to be a witch even by educated families. Neither did I know that such silly ideas that someone can cause you harm by merely looking at you can be a cause of murder.

But the belief in witch craft is not just confined to the tribal areas such as the Chotanagpur plateau. It also prevails in the non tribal areas of Bihar such as Gaya, Nalanda and Bihar Sharif.

Witches are believed to have special powers capable of harming people. It is believed that they consort with evil spirits. Children are not to be exposed to these women. They are even believed to have powers of contaminating food. The witch is held responsible for death or sickness of cattle or human beings. Sometimes she is also accused of casting an evil eye on her own kith and kin.

To be branded as a witch is considered to be a matter of a great shame. Consequently, the so called witch is subjected to various persecutions. If proven a witch, the woman faces boycott from the entire community. They are humiliated openly, paraded naked and are even forced to eat human excreta. After being killed, her body is sometimes mutilated.

Witch hunting though a very demeaning practice has a sanction of the society. It is deeply rooted in social beliefs and practices. The Panchayats have been known to slap bans on women branded as witches. At times bans and fine satisfy the people seeking justice. But at other times, it just not enough and a woman has to pay a terrible price for it. She is beaten up mercilessly and even burnt alive for apparently no fault of hers.