By Abdul Gani, TwoCircles.net,
Guwahati: Even as Maharashtra has a bill against superstition in the western part of the country, northeast still remains chained by the peril of the society. At a time when people of Maharashtra today can boast of having a law against such evil practices of the society, with three innocent lives being hacked to death in Assam, the need for such a law in this region is also being felt.
Around 15 masked men barged in to the house of one Dhiren Rabha of Ouguri Village in Kokrajhar district of Assam and hacked him to death. Rabha’s only offence, few in the society believed him to been indulged in Witch Craft. On the same night similar penalty was meted out to Dhiren and Sukleswari Basumatary of Milanpur village, adjoining the ill-fated Ouguri.
Notably, all those who were thrashed to death as a punishment for practicing Witch Craft, were aged 60 to 65 and the irony is that the state of Assam has not been as pro-active as Maharashtra and the victims are nameless in the crowd that have lost their lives to this bane of the society.
Journalist Forum of Assam (JFA), a journalists’ body has also urged upon Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi to follow the footsteps of his counterpart in Maharashtra and save the state from the evil clutches of superstition.
“Assam has witnessed some of the worst times as far as social evil like witch hunting is concerned. The state of Assam is in the much need of such an law so that innocent lives could be saved at the hands of some non-sense people,” said Rupam Barua, president of JFA.
Incidents of 'witch hunting' has increased in Assam in 2011 with Kokrajhar district in lower Assam recording the highest number of witch hunting-related deaths in the year. The issue was raised in the state assembly by Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) legislator Pramila Rani Brahma long back. Brahma, who represents Kokrajhar constituency, also demanded a strong legislation to stop the social evil.
According to government figures a total of 80 people have been killed in Assam from January 2006 to February 2011, due to witch-hunting.17 people have been tortured in the name of witch hunting in these years. Witch hunting has claimed 12 lives in 2012. Although various steps have been taken both by government agencies and non-government organizations to stop the evil practice, yet very little success has been achieved. The Assam police have also launched 'Project Prahari' for participatory development and people friendly policing to fight social maladies and deprivation. Under the project, Assam police launched awareness drive against 'witch hunting' in state's remote areas.
