It is shocking that a person who is over eighty years of age should be accused of black magic practised on his own niece and is therefore buried alive by his own clan members. This horrific crime suggests that superstition still rules the roost and neither education nor religious teachings have been able to address the faultlines between superstition and science. In Meghalaya, the notion of the “nongshohnoh” still persists. Until a few years ago some people in Smit who were accused of being ‘nongshohnoh’ were lynched. The nongshohnoh is one who kills so that the blood of the victims is fed to a python nurtured by some families. The python, it is believed by the Khasi people, creates wealth for the family that nurtures it. The python however will feed on nothing but human blood in specific seasons.
In the tribal belts of India it is still common to hear of women being burnt alive after they are accused of practising witchcraft. No one is sure if witchcraft is really the reason that someone falls ill but any illness that is not easily explained of which mental health is one, is attributed to witchcraft or black magic. People afflicted by mental illness do not respond to medicines unless properly diagnosed. But their family members who generally are in denial about mental health ailments need a scapegoat to pile their anger and frustration on. Widowed women are usual scapegoats although a careful prising of the matter would reveal that the person accused of witchcraft owned land and property that the sons covet.
Recent incidents of killings in the name of superstition show the dark side of India’s progressive society. And all is being done in the name of bringing peace, harmony and prosperity to those involved. When all efforts fail to keep hopes alive and life on a steady keel, then many in India still turn to black magic and superstitious practices for quick-fix solutions.
Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have enacted laws to restrict witchcraft. But these legislations have not helped to curb irrational beliefs and practices. A Dehradun-based organisation, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), had filed a public interest petition in the Supreme Court in 2010 for proper implementation of these Acts. The petition claimed that more than 2,500 Indian women have been killed in the name of witchcraft in 15 years.
Kerala, which has also witnessed an alarming spurt in the number of black magic cases, now proposes to bring in a legislation to curb “inhuman” practices and exploitation in the name of superstition. Kerala has borrowed from the Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Bill, passed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.
It is time that Meghalaya too passes stringent laws against such superstitions that militate against science and reason and violate human rights.