Gujarat’s witch doctors kill, maim with impunity, thanks to legal gaps

A two-month-old baby in Gujarat’s Porbandar district had to be rushed to hospital last month after a witch doctor or exorcist, locally called bhuva, branded her with a hot iron rod to cure her of cough and cold.

An FIR was registered against the witch doctor and the child’s mother on January 12, but no arrests have been made so far. Deputy Superintendent of Police Surjeet Mahedu said, “The baby was suffering from cough and respiratory issues for a week. After home cure failed to bring her any relief, the child’s mother decided to take her to her to a local bhuva, Devrajbhai Katara.”

Katara branded the baby with a hot iron rod on her chest and stomach. Her father, who was not present at home when she was taken to the witch doctor, rushed her to Bhavsinhji General Hospital in Porbandar. He later filed an complaint, based on which an FIR was registered against Katara and the baby’s mother under Section 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by means of any instrument likely to cause death) and other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Gujarat’s dark tryst with exorcism

Exorcism is not uncommon in Gujarat. Months before the incident in Porbandar, the parents of a ten-day-old baby took her to an exorcist, who branded her with hot iron, killing her on the spot. In Rapar taluka of Kutch district, men accused of theft were taken to a local tantrik, who asked them to dip their hand in boiling oil, claiming it would not burn them if they were innocent.

In 2022, a 14-year-old was killed in Gir Somnath district while an exorcism was being performed on her at the behest of her father. She died after going without food for days and tied to a pole near a fire pit.

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In 2020, a disabled teenage girl was beheaded on a new moon night in a black magic ritual in Banaskantha. Her cousin, 25-year-old Nitin Mali, was later arrested. In 2019, the parents of a seven-month-old baby took her to the village exorcist because she was suffering from respiratory issues. She did not survive the ordeal of the rituals.

“The bhuvas engage in all kinds of superstitious acts, and villagers have unwavering faith in them. Villagers call them for all kinds of reasons, from snake bites to finding thieves to help conceive a male child,” Jayant Pandya told The Federal.

Pandya, a rationalist who has been working against these practices since 1990, said, “We have exposed 2,700 bhuvas involved in exorcism and 1,085 engaged in various other acts of superstition. Our organization, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha, had conducted a survey some years ago, which revealed that around 12,000 to 13,000 bhuvas have been operating in Gujarat, of which some 400 are from other states; the rest are locals. The numbers must have increased over the years.”

Witch doctors held in highest esteem

The witch doctors, also known as lakaharas or tantriks are, held in the highest esteem among multiple communities in Gujarat, especially in tribal areas, where people seek their consultation for any ill that befalls a person or family.

Inhuman practices, such as branding with hot iron, dipping hand in boiling oil, flagellation, standing on the chest, slashing with knives, or animal and even human sacrifices, for the “treatment” of ailments are trademark practices of the witch doctors of Gujarat.

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“Animal and human sacrifice is a very popular practice in the state. Bhuvas usually offer the sacrifice as a guarantee for conceiving a male child, cleansing a family of evil spirit, or becoming successful in business ventures, etc. Three years ago, a man sacrificed three sons at Meldi Mandir in Wadhwan taluka of Surendranagar district after a bhuva suggested that doing so was the only way to ward off evil spirit from the family.

A few years before that, a man in Jamnagar district beheaded his son with a sword as a sign of loyalty to his guru, a local tantric. Six months ago, a bhuva branded a woman a dakan (dayan or witch), and claimed if she remained alive, she would bring death to her family. Her family allowed the bhuva to conduct a yagya at a temple, where iron rods were heated. The woman was thrashed with the hot iron rods by the bhuva and her brothers-in-law, while her husband and the rest of the family watched. She couldn’t take the torture after a while and died on the spot,” Pandya said.

No law against superstitious activities

“There is no law against superstitious activities in Gujarat. Even if a case is lodged against them, they get bail unless the case involves a murder, rape, aggravated assault, or child abuse. Besides, most of these bhuvas enjoy political impunity to a certain extent because of their power to sway votes during elections. Each community in Gujarat has its own bhuva and, depending on the population of the community, a bhuva can sway from 2,000 to 10,000 votes,” added Pandya.

Noticeably, in 2017, the then minister of social justice and empowerment, Atmaram Parmar, and then education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama had organised a mandwa — a felicitation ceremony for around 500 witch doctors in Parmar’s constituency, Ghadhara.

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The event was met with protests by rationalists and Dalit rights activists. Parmar had then told the media, “The people who are against the bhuvas don’t know about Hindu culture. These are holy men of divine power. There might be a few bad men among them, but all of them cannot be defamed.”

“The tradition of bhuvas in Gujarat goes back about 200 years. The practice is more common among economically and socially backward communities. Among Dalits, the practice is more prevalent among the Valmikis (considered the lowest in the social hierarchy amongst Dalits) owing to years of oppression that has kept them away from mainstream society. The dependence on these bhuvas has remained over the years due to the lack of an alternate mechanism of redress of social or health issues. These villagers need proper education and health care, not a bhuva,” said Natubhai Parmar, a Dalit rights activist from Surendranagar district.