Superstition, sectarianism killed more people in Jharkhand than Naxalism.

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Superstition and sectarianism killed more people in Jharkhand than Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in 2018, says the latest report on Crime in India by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), highlighting the deep-rooted superstition and caste distinction in the tribal State.

The report, released on Wednesday, said that the motive behind at least 18 murders in Jharkhand was witch-hunting in the year 2018, while honour killing was the reason behind nine murders in the same year. Interestingly, “Extremism/ Naxalism/ Insurgency” was reason for only two murders in the State in year 2018, the report added.

While figures with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) claim that at least 19 of 24 districts in Jharkhand are Left Wing Extremism-affected, the NCRB data may convince one to believe that superstition was far more dangerous and widespread here, say social activists. According to the NCRB report, the motive behind 62 murders across India in 2018 was witchcraft and 18 of them were reported in Jharkhand – the highest in the country.

“Witch-hunting is a social malady. We require joint efforts from different stakeholders to spread awareness against such age-old superstitious practices,” said Jharkhand Director General of Police (DGP) KN Choubey. He, however, refused to comment on the NCRB figures of murders executed by LWE groups, claiming that he was yet to personally go through the report. “The NCRB is a trustworthy and reputed agency,” he added.  

This is, however, not the first instance when Jharkhand has topped in terms of murders related to witchcraft in India. Superstitious practices in the interiors have remained a major concern for the Government here for several years. The tribal dominated state witnessed at least 590 cases of witch-hunting from 2001 to 2018, says combined figures of the State police and the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Besides, several incidents of occultists trying to resurrect dead people and women getting married off to snakes and dogs have been reported from far off villages in Jharkhand in the past – a proof of the deep-embedded superstition in the rural society here.

Jharkhand also tops in terms of honour killings. The State witnessed nine incidents of honour killings in 2018 – the highest in India. Police said that most of the honour killing incidents are triggered by sectarianism and caste distinctions. Inter-caste love affairs and marriages were still one of the most common reasons for honour killings in Jharkhand, they added. “Such flawed idea of honour and caste distinction has to be dealt with extensive social awareness campaigns. The police can investigate murder cases and nab the accused, but the change has to begin in the society,” said Choubey. 

While the NCRB report puts the figure of human sacrifice to zero in Jharkhand in 2018, some incidents of alleged human sacrifice too have been reported here in the past decade.

In a suspected case of human sacrifice, the police had to exhume half-buried, naked and decapitated bodies of two children from a village in Latehar, about 100 Kilometers northwest of capital Ranchi, in July last year.

In May 2017, the police arrested a 26-year-old Ranchi man on charges of attempting to sacrifice his mother to appease a goddess. And in 2015, a 60-year-old man was reportedly sacrificed in Gumla for better rainfall.