On behalf of NCW, Ms. Nirmala Sawant Prabhavalkar, Member, NCW, attended the ‘North and West Region Consultation on ‘Violations related to women targeted as Witches’ supported by NCW and organized by Partners for Law in Development and Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti. She began by briefing the participants about NCW being a quasi judicial body that can take suo moto cognizance of a violation against women. 

Ms. Sawant then outlined the four major concerns related to witch hunting: 

a) The lack of health facility: The lack of health facilities and unavailability of professional doctors at the village level led to people going to ‘miracle mongers’ for the treatment of diseases. Further, even in areas where doctors were available, villagers could barely afford the expensive medication. 

b) Police apathy: The non-committal attitude of the police is another concern. It is the duty of the police to ensure every case that comes before them is registered and investigated in a proper and sincere manner. In the absence of a separate law on witch hunting, the provisions of the Indian Penal Code have to be invoked and cases should be registered under the appropriate provisions. Gender sensitization is also the need of the hour. It is this that will build in the police a sense of sympathy which would then lead to them getting personally involved in each case. 

c) Awareness, especially among women: Women need to be made aware of what their rights are, only then will get the power to fight for it. NGOs and people working at the ground level should train women and give them moral and legal support. 

d) Law: The present laws are not adequate to deal with such violations and Ms. Sawant assured the participants that that the NCW will look into, at its own level. 

Ms. Sawant thereafter reiterated that mostly unmarried women, widows and outspoken women are targeted as witches. Within the patriarchal set up religious beliefs are used as a tool to exploit and subjugate women. The self proclaimed masters of occultism target women for sheer economic gain. 

On the behalf of NCW, Ms. Nirmala Sawant has made a commitment to the survivors of witch hunting present at the Consultation that NCW will use its suo moto powers to take cognizance of the violence inflicted on them and ensure that they get justice in the court of law. Four survivors presented their testimonies that demonstrate apathy of law enforcement. Ms. Sawant assured the survivors legal action by NCW to assist them in their pursuit of protection, redress and justice.

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