Repeated incidents show why Jharkhand is a horrific place for women and girls

Ranchi, Oct 9 (IANS) A 55-year-old woman who had gone to work in the field was gang-raped by two policemen in Serengdag village of Gumla region. The accused attacked her private parts with a sharp object. The woman is battling for life in Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Ranchi.

In Palkot town of the same area, 40-year-old Deepak Nayak lured a 9-year-old girl from the neighborhood to a nearby school and raped her. When her family went out in search of the girl, she was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood near the school.

In yet another incident, a minor girl was kidnapped and gang-raped by some men who visisted a Durga Puja pandal in Saraidhohar village of Chinia police station area of Garhwa district.

In Baredih village under Tamad police station of Ranchi, a 55-year-old woman was declared a witch and her own nephew, Jai Swansi, killed her with a sharp object. In Maranghada village of Khunti, Mangra Nag beat his sister-in-law to death with sticks on suspicion of her being a witch.

In Napo Khurd village under Barkagaon police station of Hazaribagh district, a person named Shashi Kumar shot and killed his newly married wife Pooja, who was pregnant.

These incidents of cruelty and violence against women and girls in Jharkhand were reported at a time when the mantras of worship of Goddess Durga were reverberating during the nine days of Navratri. The state seems to have turned into a dreadful place for women to live in.

In Dumka, four horrific crimes were committed against women in last forty days. On August 23, a youth named Shahrukh set a Class 12 student Ankita Singh on fire by sprinkling petrol on her. Ankita succumbed to her injuries after battling for life for five days in a hospital. Ankita's only fault was that she refused to become friends and converse with Shahrukh.

On September 2, a minor girl was raped and murdered at Sriamda in Dumka's Diggi OP area and her body was hanging from a tree. The accused, namely Armaan, was sexually abusing her for months on the pretext of marriage.

On September 24, some goons of Aswari village under Saraiyahat block of the same district forced four people including three women to drink urine, accusing them of being witch-exorcists, and burned them with hot iron rods.

The fourth incident happened late on October 6, in Bharatpur Bhalki village of Jarmundi police station area, when a man identified as Rajesh Raut entered 19-year-old Maruti Kumari's house and set her ablaze by pouring petrol on her. Maruti was asleep at that time and started screaming when she felt her body burning. She saw Rajesh running away while she cried for help. The accused is married, but was still pressurising Maruti's family for marriage. The victim died on her way to RIMS the next day.

On 7 October, a youth named Pappu Turi set his four-year-old daughter on fire in Kisko police station area of Lohardaga district on suspicion of his wife's affair with another man. The child suffered 80 per cent burns.

On the same day, 11 youths gang-raped a 12-year-old girl who reached the railway station to return home after seeing an orchestra programme in Latehar.

On October 8, in Ranchi Tupudana police station area, a 65-year-old woman was beheaded on suspicion of being a witch.

The series of such dreadful incidents in every corner of the state seems endless. Jharkhand completes 23 years as a separate state and in this period, more than a thousand people have been killed in the state on suspicion of being witchs/exorcists. 90 per cent of the victims of these crimes are women.

Police data shows that in the last seven years, an average of 35 murders takes place in Jharkhand attributed to witch-hunting every year. According to CID, 46 women were murdered in 2015 on suspicion of being witches. There were 39 murders in 2016, 42 in 2017, 25 in 2018, 27 in 2019, 28 in 2020 and 22 in 2021. So far this year, there have been 23 murders in the name of witch-hunting.

This way the figure for seven and a half years is more than 250. From 2015 to 2020, a total of 4,556 cases were registered for harassment of women by branding them as witches. That is, every day, two to three cases come forward.

According to the data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Jharkhand ranks eighth in the country in terms of rape incidents.

In 2021, 1425 rape cases were registered in the state. That is, on an average, one rape incident happens every 6 hours. These are only the figures that were registered in the police station.

Apart from this, 164 cases of assault on women were registered. Similarly, 1,805 cases of harassment for dowry and 164 cases of attempted rape were reported. Of these, 55 cases were of gang rape. 46 other cases were registered in which women or girls became victims of rape for the second time.

In the year 2021, 720 people were sentenced in rape cases in Jharkhand, including 703 male and 17 female accused. The NCRB report shows that women in the age group of 18 to 30 years are the most vulnerable in Jharkhand. Of the total 1425 cases of rape in 2021, there are 901 cases in which the victims were aged 18 to 30.

Yogendra Yadav, an advocate at Jharkhand High Court, is associated with several social organisations. He tells IANS that witchcraft and superstition are the biggest reasons for atrocities against women in the state. About 30 to 40 per cent of cases of witch torture do not reach the police. Due to the fear of bullies, many people, most of them being women, remain silent even after suffering atrocities.

Sometimes the harassers are people from their own household. Such cases reach the police only when atrocities get unbearable. Yogendra explains that ever increasing incidents in the name of witch-hunting even after the implementation of the Prevention of Witch (DAAIN) Practices Act, 2001, show that there is a need to make more strict rules, to ensure the availability of fast track courts to take quick decisions in such cases and to intensify the awareness campaign at the social level.

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister and BJP state president Raghuvar Das said that due to the deteriorating law and order situation during the tenure of the current state government, crimes against women have increased tremendously.

On the other hand, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Rajya Sabha MP and former chairman of Jharkhand Women's Commission Mahua Maji said that the state government is sensitive to incidents of crime against women. In all the major incidents that have taken place, criminals have been arrested. Chief Minister Hemant Soren's stand is also completely firm in this matter.