Witch Hunting

Video Volunteers: In Jharkhand women are targeted and branded witches whenever a calamity befalls the village

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, 2,097 murders were committed between 2000 and 2012, where the motive was “witch hunting”. People, mostly women, are targeted and branded witches whenever a calamity befalls the village – be it death, disease or drought. Witch doctors known as Ojhas, mostly men are called upon to undo the supposedly evil influences of a witch. Many a times, victims and survivors of witch hunting are also women suffering from mental illnesses.

Witch-hunting in Assam: A stringent law is the need of the hour to curb the practice

A legal deterrent is the need of the hour to rid Assam of witch-hunting, say activists like Birubala Raha

Amid the tea plantations of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal, what drives the hunt for 'witches'

Professor Soma Chaudhuri has studied for over a decade the problem of witch-hunting in the tea plantation community of Jalpaiguri, West Bengal

Bengal woman lynched for being a 'witch'

A 45-year-old woman was lynched in West Bengal's West Medinapore district after villagers accused her of witchcraft, following which seven people were arrested, police said on Tuesday.