Tribal Woman Beheaded Over Suspicion of Witchcraft in Odisha, Police Seize Skull, Skeleton In a nerve-chilling incident, a tribal woman was beheaded in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district over suspicion of practicing witchcraft, police said on Saturday. The incident took place at Purunapani village in the Bangriposhi police station area, the police told news agency PTI.
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Police seized the skeleton and skull of the woman, identified as 55-year-old Kuni Jerai, on July 24, said inspector-in-charge Sanjay Kumar Parida. Jamira Singh (30), the accused, was arrested and sent to judicial custody after being produced at the court on Saturday. Singh suspected that his son died because of Jerai's witchcraft, they said. He beheaded the woman with an axe and threw the body at a place near the village on July 9, police said.
In yet another incident of witch-hunting, a woman in Maharashtra's Nandurbar district was allegedly stripped and paraded naked by locals who suspected her of practicing witchcraft.
Taking cognizance of the video, the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) has requested the district administration in Nandurbar to conduct an inquiry. Police are also investigating the incident. Jharkhand tops in witch-hunting of women The archaic and brutal practice of witch-hunting and witch branding is mostly prevalent in 12 states of India — Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Haryana, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Jharkhand's low social and economic indicators have propelled it to the top of a national crime indicator: witch-hunting, the targets of which are women, who are accused of being witches and humiliated, ostracised, attacked and murdered. Between 2016 and 2020, as many as 94 women were murdered with witchcraft as the motive in Jharkhand, more than in any other state, according to an Article 14 analysis of data published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Madhya Pradesh is second with 75 and Chhattisgarh with 69.
In 2020, NCRB data said that 15 women were murdered on allegations of witchcraft. Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha—all states with a sizeable Adivasi population—together recorded 88 murders attributed to witch-hunting. Why are women labelled 'witches' in India?
Witch hunts primarily target women and exploit India’s caste system and culture of patriarchy. Men who brand women as dakan capitalise on deeply-rooted superstitions and systems built on misogyny and patriarchy to lay blame on females. Witches are also convenient explanations for rising infant mortality rates and deaths from malaria, typhoid, and cholera. In a dated interview with Deutsche Welle, Indira Jaising, a senior lawyer in the Indian Supreme Court, explained that while superstition is often made out to be the main reason behind the killings, the crimes are often related to class and gender discrimination, and used as a means to exact revenge. The members of upper caste society try to stigmatise the poor and indigenous people by branding them as witches.
The vulnerable groups labelled as witches are often elderly and single women living alone on their property, childless women, widows, divorcees, and physically challenged women. Since they are not able to defend themselves nor do they have the support of others, powerful people in villages often target them to capture their land, and property, seek sexual favours, or simply take revenge.
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