77 people have been killed and 60 others have been injured in witch-hunting incidents in Assam since 2010. Parliamentary affairs minister of Assam Rockybul Hussain said the casualties included 35 women. Of the 60 people injured, 46 were women. The cause is nothing but superstition. What measures have been taken to eliminate such occurrences? Hussain said that the additional director general of the CID had prepared a draft anti-witch hunting bill as per the direction of the Gauhati High Court. Necessary modifications to the draft were made at a meeting presided over by the Commissioner and Secretary of the state home department. The draft has received the approval of the Chief Minister and sent for comments to different relevant departments like Social Welfare and Law, among others. The government is determined to enact the bill and stop the social evil.
Assam is the most developed among the seven states in the North-east. But there are areas of darkness in the state with tribal throwback which dates as far back as the Ahom days. Such superstition is generally due to social backwardness coupled with economic deprivation. It is a kind of lynching and maybe even worse than that. Villagers take the law into their hands. In the case of women, violation of social norms is mixed up with sorcery and the accused are hanged. The murder of suspected witches was also rampant in Singbhum. As a matter of fact, such medieval superstition prevailed even in Europe and the US. Great women like Joan of Arc were victims of the prejudices of the Roman Catholic Church. Witch hunting in these advanced countries is a thing of the past. Its persistence in Assam is disturbing and the state government should legislate against it without delay.
