Witch Hunting Claims Two Lives in Birbhum District of West Bengal

In a bizarre incident, two elderly tribal women were beaten to death in a Birbhum village after the headman (Morol) of the tribal village accused the two of indulging in black magic targeting the youths of their village resulting in them falling sick. The incident happened at Harisabha Adivasi Para of Kaleshwar Gram Panchayats in Mayureshwar block last Sunday. For the next five days, the bodies of the two women lay in a local nullah. Following the surfacing of a video, the incident came to light. Then, the police swung into action and retrieved the dead bodies.

According to reports, both the elderly women were residents of Kesedangal Para, another tribal inhabited village which lies besides Harisabha Adibasi para. Both of them had come to their paternal residence for joining a local religious occasion, Manasa Puja. It has been learnt that since the last few days, the local Morol, Laxmikanta Soren, and his associates had been alleging that the two women, Lodgi Hansda (60) and Dolly Soren (40) had been indulging in black magic on the area’s youths. On the eve of Manasa Puja, both the women were forced out of their houses and beaten up. They prayed for their release, but more beating was inflicted on them by the group of villagers. Ultimately when both of them died, their bodies were thrown away in the local nullah. It can be recalled that in Birbhum, incidents like witch hunting and fanning of superstitious beliefs are on a rise after the change of regime in the state in 2011.

In this incident, interestingly, even last week when the dead body of the two women had not been recovered, TMC leaders held a Scheduled Tribe (ST) certificate distribution camp in the village. The Police has arrested 15 residents of the village including the Laxmikanta Soren while six remains untraceable. Both the women came from tribal background and were extremely poor. They earned their living working as daily wage labourers.

Talking to Newsclick , Pulinbehari Baskey, State Secretary of Adivasi Adhikar Manch said that it is because of societal backwardness in those areas of the state that this incident has happened. “There is penetration of RSS in those areas, and it is to be seen whether that penetration has enthused this. Police have taken some action and leaders of our Birbhum Chapter have taken note of the incident. There is a dearth of socially beneficial schemes by the West Bengal Government in these areas”, he said. In the age of present advancement in science, there cannot be any alibi for such a heinous murder, he added. He demanded exemplary punishment for those accused.