NEW DELHI: More than 75 years of the Constitution coming into force, the derogatory practice of witch-hunting that targets defenceless women due to prejudice, suspicion, superstition and irrational fear, continues in the country, the Supreme Court lamented while upholding life term for two who murdered a woman in a tribal village of Odisha in Feb 1998.A bench of Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and N V Anjaria said the facets of the case had a disturbing impact on the court as a defenceless woman was branded a practitioner of witchcraft and was brutally assaulted in front of her daughter. “What effect it must have had on the daughter of the deceased who had to witness her mother being killed in the most brutal way,” the bench wondered.Writing the judgment, Justice Mishra said the malady of with-hunting continues to plague sections of our society, where prejudice, superstition, and irrational dear supersede the rule of law and constitutional morality.“The brutality associated with witch-hunting extends far beyond the act of killing; where victims mostly women are subjected to torture, beatings, sexual violence and social ostracization. In such a situation, superstitious beliefs or fears are given precedence leading to vulnerable women becoming victims of collective hostility,” he said.IN Feb 1998, in the remote village of tribal inhabited Sundergarh district, one Manobodha Naik’s daughter died, and family members claimed that she died because of witchcraft practice of one Puni Naik. Hearing this Udai Oram dragged Puni Naik to Naik’s house and with his associate, mercilessly assaulted her with sticks leading to her death. The trial court had convicted the duo in 2002, but the Orissa HC took two decades to uphold the conviction and life sentence.
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Justices Mishra and Anjaria said, “Sometimes in the most difficult situations, it often becomes an easy escape to blame a woman for the acts she did not commit, thus reflecting a deeply rooted social prejudice that often seeks scapegoats rather than solutions. In such situations, what can be given an ascendency is ‘reason’ for reason is the only virtue that stands as a bulwark against collective irrationality.”SC said the Constitution guarantees equality, promotes fraternity and envisages citizens to adopt scientific temperament to rid the society of derogatory practices against women. “Despite this, practices such as witch-hunting continue to persist within a few sections of our society. A Constitutional democracy such as ours cannot survive; wherein such derogatory practices continue to elude the principles of rule of law and Constitutional morality,” it said.