DNA Explainer | Kerala 'human sacrifices': Central legislation awaited; know which states have laws against black magic?

A day after the arrest of three people in connection with the killings of two women in Kerala as part of ‘human sacrifice for financial prosperity’, the Kerala Police divulged horrific details about the crime committed by the couple at the direction of Rasheed alias Muhammad Shafi, a restaurant owner to posed as an ‘occult practitioner’. 

Healer and masseur Bhagaval Singh, his wife Laila not only killed the two women -- Rosly (49) and Padmam (52) -- but also mutilated their bodies. In fact, one of the bodies was said to have been cut into as many as 56 pieces. Officials also said the accused had consumed the flesh of one of the victims.  

The women had gone missing in September and June this year and the eventual probe, based on their mobile phone details and tower locations, unravelled the story of human sacrifice.

Shafi, the mastermind of the killings, has been termed as a ‘psychopath’ and ‘pervert’ by the police and also has over a dozen cases registered against him over the past 15 years. 

Black magic practices and superstitious acts violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution. 

Moreover, they violate several provisions of international treaties to which India is a signatory, such as the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948’, ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966’, and ‘Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979’. 

Since 1999, as many as eight states have enacted laws to deal with crimes related to witch hunting, black magic and other superstitious actions that have often resulted in brutal crimes. However, India till date does not have central legislation to tackle the menace of black magic. 

The state laws vary in terms of terminology and punishment. While the enactments do not particularly define what black magic or superstition means, they criminalise the practices which have been widely reported over decades. 

However, since many of the practices have their roots connected with religious beliefs, state governments have been reluctant in bringing laws against them. 

Bihar

In 1999, Bihar became the first state to enact a law against witchcraft and instances where a woman is declared a witch and tortured. Under the Prevention of Witch (daain) Practices Act, 1999, a witch of daain means a woman who has been “identified” by someone else as a person “having the power of intention of harming any person thorugh the art of black magic, evil eyes, or ‘mantras’,” according to Live Law. 

Jharkhand

Jharkhand has a similar law. However, its efficiency was questioned by the state high court last year as it took suo motu cognisance of an incident in which five persons of a family were killed in Buruhatu-Amtoli-Amtoli Pahar, Gumla village after being declared as “witches” by the villae council. 

Chhattisgarh

In 2015, the state government enacted Tonahi Pratadna Nivaran Act which criminalised the declaring of any person, be it woman or man, as ‘tonahi’, which is used to refer to “any person or persons that will harm or possesses power to harm or thereby he intends to harm any other person or persons or society or animal of living things by black magic, evil eye or by any other means,” according to Live Law. 

The law provides for a maximum imprisonment of five years in a case where a person is found to have caused physical or mental harassment to someone “identified” as tonahi. 

It also criminalises the acts of "jhar-phook, totka, use of tantra-mantra or anything as Ojha upon any person indicated as a tonahi or any other person or animal or living thing alleged to be affected by such tonahi, under any claim of treatment or control" and provides for an imprisonment that can extend to five years.

Odisha

Prevention of Witch-hunting Act, 2013 also criminalises witch-hunting or the exercise or practise of witchcraft. It also criminalises the practice of a 'witch doctor' and states that acts, that cause harm or injury to the person upon whom such practices are being performed, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but may extend to three years.

Rajasthan

The Rajasthan Prevention Of Witch-Hunting Act, 2015 provides for harsher sentences in certain cases.

The government under the law can also impose a collective fine on inhabitants of an area when they are found in violation of the Act. Authorities can also take preventive action by declaring the area "prone to offences punishable under this Act and take necessary action for keeping the peace and good behaviour and maintenance of public order and tranquillity and may take preventive action."

Assam

he Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention, Protection Act, 2015 criminalises the action of blaming a person for "any misfortune that befalls his village/area/locality or community which may also include natural disasters, such as droughts, floods, crop loss, illness or any death in the village". 

The law also has provisions of punishment for various forms of torture like stoning, hanging, stabbing, dragging, public beatings, burns, cutting/burning of hair, forced hair shavings, pulling of teeth out, cutting of nose or other body-parts, blackening of face, whipping, branding with hot objects or use of any other blunt or sharp weapons or objects.

Maharashtra

The state government passed the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act in 2013.

Under the law, it is illegal to engage in black magic, human being sacrifices, the use of magic to treat diseases, and practices that exploit people’s superstitions, as per Legal Service India. The law also aims to curb superstitions that lead to financial loss and physical harm.

The guilty can be sentenced to imprisonment between six months to seven years and fined anywhere from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. Also, the police will have to publish the name and place of residence of the convict along with the place of the offence in the local newspaper.

Even though it has been nine years since the law was passed, the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) claimed the state government is yet to implement the act.

Karnataka

Karnataka notified an anti-superstition statute in 2020 along the lines of the Maharashtra act. The Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhumane Evil Practices and Black Magic Act, 2017, came into effect on 4 January 2020.

The legislation bans 16 acts that harm other people in the name of witchcraft, black magic and superstition. The culprits convicted under the act can be imprisoned, or fined, or both under various IPC provisions including Section 302 (murder), section 307 (attempt to murder) and 308 (abetment to suicide), as per The New Indian Express.

Kerala

In 2014, a working draft of the bill titled ‘The Kerala Exploitation by Superstition (Prevention) Act’ was prepared by the then Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) A Hemachandran. However, the draft did not go anywhere and Kerala failed to enact a comprehensive law against black magic.