By D N Singh
It sends chills down anyone’s spine to hear that, an elderly man falls victim to a group of attackers while sleeping at his home with the family.
The man Dai Majhi in Raygada, was literally beaten to death on charges of witch hunting. His two sons somehow managed to escape the attack but with severe injuries and hospitalized later.
The frequency of killings in witch hunting are so brutal that, in 21st century it is difficult to believe that, superstition can drive people to believe that, someone can change fate or inflict physical or mental damage.
Dai Majhi’s case is no more an example of witch hunting crimes. It has been going on for long. The people from the lower strata are being targeted like widows or spinsters for witch-crafts.
The Odisha High Court had said that according to NCRB records, more than 2,500 victims were tortured and killed in witch hunts between 2000 and 2016. Whereas in 2018, 73 witchcraft-related cases were reported across the state, Odisha, out of which 18 were murders. Another 99 cases, including 18 murders, were recorded in the state in 2017.
So, Odisha has earned the dubious record, according to the NCRB report that, being the state with highest number of witch hunt related deaths after Jharkhand.
Either a parent couple killing its two daughters after undergoing the impression that, the sacrifices would alleviate their mental disorders or a man walking to the police station with the chopped head of the wife and telling the police that, he has finished one witch!
Although, most of such incidents take place in secrecy, but the laws and their enforcement is something merits a revisit.
