Witch Hunting: Not Just in History Books

[icymist]

Witch hunts conjure images of 17th century Salem, The Crucible and perhaps even Monty Python. They are relics of the past and today are relegated to fiction. But for thousands of women in modern-day India, witch hunts are all too real. Over the last 15 years, an estimated 2,500 Indian women have been killed because they were “witches.” Tons more have been beaten, tortured, forced off their land and driven out of their villages. They are treated brutally: Victims may be beheaded, hacked to death, stoned, buried alive, forced to eat excrement or raped.

Witch hunts are most common among poor rural communities with little access to education and health services, and longstanding beliefs in witchcraft. When an individual gets sick or harm befalls the community, the blame falls not upon a virus or crop disease, but upon an alleged witch. These “witches” are primarily women and are often widows or other marginalized members of society. In many cases, however, claiming that a woman is a witch who has caused some harm is merely a smokescreen. In reality, the witch hunter wishes to punish the victim for a perceived transgression, such as refusing sexual advances or challenging an authority figure. In other instances, a woman (again, often a widow) owns property that someone else wants. Labeling her as a witch and killing her or driving her from the village makes her land available for the taking.

For several centuries, we have understood that punishing individuals for being “witches” is wrong. It is unfair, often politically motivated and a violation of the victims’ basic rights. The International Human Rights Clinic at Cornell Law School, in conjunction with an Indian non-profit organization, recently filed a case in Indian court alleging that witch hunting is a gross human rights violation and calling on the government to enact laws and other programs to curb the practice.

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