A negative gloom: a detailed discussion on Daayan Pratha / Witch Craft and its prevalence in Jharkhand in the name of social, religious and superstitious beliefs…
To those who know… And to those who don’t.
An ugly reality which women in rural Jharkhand face are being branded a Daayan or a Witch – and then being publically shamed, beaten, paraded naked and finally killed.
The supposed powers of these women accused of witchcraft range from domestic animals dying/disappearing to children dying to people falling ill.
So the question then comes WHO are these women actually?
Do they have such supposed powers – well if they did then wouldn’t they be able to kill all their persecutors????
These are women left widowed or childless or without supportive families (read that as having a Son. As many women are killed along with their daughters, almost like “ek ke saath ek free killing”…. Women who may have some ancestral property or cattle or jewellery… (which shall then be subsequently either handed over to people who were harmed by the women’s supposed witchcraft)…
Now 2 important things which come to light:
- ALL Daayans are women – so this is a definite matter of #GenderBasedViolence
If witchcraft exists, then how come it misses Men folk all together… So it supposedly passes from mother to daughter… - Daayan killing is a public activity – and done like a hunt. Where the whole social strata gets together to “remove evil” from their midst = kill the supposed witch!
So its a mob mentality fuelled by few influential people/groups which ensure that people no longer are humane – their behavior is manic and instincts animal like!
So as a fully rounded issue, this has to be solved!!! This issue of branding women as Daayans/Witches and subsequently killing them…
Inviting your thoughts and views on this…
Note – states like Odisha, West Bengal, Assam also have the same menace – of women being branded as Witches and then hunted and killed.
#daayanPratha #stopKillingWomen