Restina Horo, a 60-year-old widow, was hacked to death on Friday by her nephew Muni Horo in Dahkela village in Jharkhand's Khunti district, barely 75 km from the state capital Ranchi. Restina was just about to retire for the night on June 17, when Muni barged into his aunt's hut and hacked her to death. The murder weapon - a pickaxe - was later recovered from the youth.

A jobless Muni, 25, had been nursing a grudge against Restina - the widow of his paternal uncle - who he blamed for his undiagnosed disease. He suspected Restina practised black magic, leading to his illness. This was second incident of witch killing reported from Khunti within a month after another woman, Mangri Mundain ( 65) was beaten to death in Arki area of the district on May 26.

HOTBED OF WITCH-HUNTING

Jharkhand, a state carved out of Bihar in November 2000, has clearly emerged as the hotbed of "witch- hunting" in India. The National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) records maintain that as many as 464 women, majority of them from tribal communities, have been branded "witches" and killed in cold blood in Jharkhand between 2001 and 2014.

India has seen killings of 2290 persons, mostly women for practicing witchcraft, in the same period. Jharkhand clearly the worst affected State, accounting for more than one fifth of the victims.

While the NCRB is yet to post updated figures for the subsequent years after 2014, it is unlikely to present a better picture in Jharkhand, which has continued to witness mindless killing of women. On June 14, septuagenarian Jugni Devi was axed to death in Kersai area of Simdega district. On June 10; a 46-year-old woman was stripped and gangraped in Tonto area of West Singhbhum district. While majority of these crime have been reported from Southern Jharkhand, , the menace is also seen in north east Jharkhand, called Santhal Paragnas, which borders Bihar and has a different tribal dialect.

On May 30, a 60-year-old tribal woman Bitia Hansda was killed for practicing witchcraft in Jarmundi area of Dumka district; Jharkhand's second capital.



GOVT FAILS TO CHECK WITCH-HUNTING

Government officials believe that their strategy to create awareness to check the menace of witch-hunting has not really worked. In many cases, relatives of the victims have been found to be the conspirators, who got the widows branded as witches and killed to usurp their properties.

The victims, nearly all of them women, have been swept up in motivated witch hunts. The tipsy crowds are often instigated by a neighbours or relatives to pick single women and punish them for "devious sorcery." The women have been blamed for everything from a bad harvest to an unexplained illness.

With lowest literacy, child malnutrition and maternal mortality, the tribal communities, which has seen maximum of such killings, are miles away from social mainstreams in Jharkhand. They have often been found sandwiched between government apathy and Maoists insurgency, both contributing to their consistent neglect by successive governments.

Social interactions at micro levels have also confirmed that that superstition is deep seated in Jharkhand, which easily prompts villagers to murder the witches.

The tribal villagers believe in superstition, as they don't have easy access to health care. They are uneducated as well. It requires constant efforts to eradicate the evil practices," says Ganesh Reddy, Chief of a noted NGO Citizen Foundation. Created in December 2000, Jharkhand--- which is twice bigger than Kerala in terms of area but with a per capita income that is less than half of the southern State--- has been continuously ranked at the bottom of economic and human development indicators.



CURIOUS CASE OF HARYANA

A comparative study of the NCRB factsheet throws up curious details. At the beginning of the decade, from 2001 to 2004, not a single case of witch-killing was recorded in Haryana. But things turned for worse from 2005 to 2010, a period when as many as 204 women were branded witches and killed. In fact, in 2010, Haryana with 57 cases of witch killings was at the top. But, the State has once against scripted a turnaround, and after recording 5 such deaths in 2011, Haryana has managed to keep its slate clean in 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Witchcraft Killing : Worst States

