Jehirul Islam, Karnavati University Unitedworld School of Law, and AfruAra Ahmed, Gauhati University, are publishing Witch Hunting in Assam: Practices, Causes, Legal Issues and Challenges in volume 1 of Unitedworld Law Journal (2017). Here is the abstract.
Witch hunting or witch branding are the social menaces, which are very much prevalent in the State of Assam. Witch doctors are the people, who usually brand women (in few cases man also) as a witch, in cases where there are issues of drought, flood, illness, and death of the people of the particular locality. The reasons for witch hunting or witch crafting are many, however, it has been in practice as a part of traditional belief, which is the reason people are reluctant to give up the practice. Existing laws in India have failed to address the issue. NGOs, Civil Societies, and Judiciary had expressed several times for need of the special laws for curbing this social evil. The Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention, and Protection) Bill, 2015 is a landmark bill to curb the menace of witch-hunting. However, the bill is pending for president’s assent.
Download the essay from SSRN at the link.
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