Gumla police on Monday arrested eight persons accused of murdering four old persons in Siskari village of Sisai block in Gumla on wee hours of Sunday.
Gumla Superintendent of Police Anjani Kumar Jha said, “We have identified 16 people who were accused of the murder of which eight have been arrested and hunt is on for the remaining.”
The accused will be charged under The Prevention of Witch (DAAIN) Practices Act, 2001 and section 302 of Indian Penal Code for murder.
The deceased were identified as Suna Oraon, 62, Fagni, 60, Chapa Bhagat, 67 and his wife Piri Devi, 60. The four were dragged out from their house in the tribal Siskari village, around 15 kilometres towards the interior of Sisai block to the Akhra (a meeting and entertainment point in tribal villages) and beaten to death using lathi (batons) by a group of masked people at around 3:30 am on Sunday.
While usually in most of the cases of witch hunting, property grabbing seems to be a major reason, the SP said that this case seems to be totally based on superstitious beliefs of the villagers.
“We did explore the angle of property grabbing but all the people were above 60 years of age, had sons and a very nominal property. We can rule out the suspicion of property dispute because it happens only when there are no predecessors to stake claim on the property of elderly,” Jha said.
The SP informed at the murdered seemed planned as a few days ago there was a meeting of several people from the village regarding the same. “A few people of the village had met and discussed about the four old people allegedly practicing witch craft, which according to them, led to the death of a certain resident of the village around 15 days ago,” he said.
Jha added, “It was in this meeting that the accused made a strategy following which they murdered the four persons. We cannot say that the entire village was the part of a meeting but there were definitely a few people who supported it.”
The SP also informed that initially the police had a suspicion that more people could be a target in the village but after investigation they found that there is no buzz about any more persons practicing ‘witch craft’.
Witch hunting has been a major social evil in the State for ages. The data from the official website of Jharkhand police shows that as many as 15 persons have been murdered in the State till May this year for allegedly practicing witchcraft.
Also, the combined data of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and Jharkhand police show that since the formation of State in November 2000 to 2018, a total of 590 cases of 'witch' murders have been reported in Jharkhand.