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Despite anti-superstition law, occult rituals still a concern in K’taka
Following the protests, the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act was notified into a bill on September 3, 2020.
After doctors said that her brother Mohammad Wasil will not recover from his paralytic stroke, 36-year-old Rashidunisa approached a black magic practitioner in Bengaluru, said the police. The practitioner Naseema convinced her that if they don’t sacrifice a 10-year-old girl in 45 days, her brother won’t survive. In the days that followed Rashidunisa and Wasil, along with a minor began searching for a girl.
On March 1, 2017, they zeroed in on their neighbour as well as cousin’s daughter, said the police. The three of them went to his house around 8.30 pm and kidnapped the girl. She was taken to a building in an isolated location in Hosahalli on the outskirts of Magadi town. “After performing the rituals for two days, they strangled the minor with a ribbon she had used to tie her hair. On March 3, on Naseema’s instructions, they packed the girl’s body in a gunny bag and threw it by the road. The trio was arrested three days later,” a police official familiar with the developments said.
The incident led to an outrage across the state, with several sections pushing for an Anti-Superstition Bill. Following the protests, the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act was notified into a bill on September 3, 2020.
Despite the outrage and even the law, finding a black magic practitioner in Karnataka takes only a Google search. The recent “human sacrifice” cases in Kerala have only brought back the attention to the problem of black magic practice in rural Karnataka.
A year after the law came into force, in October 2021, a two-year-old girl’s body was found abandoned at a sugarcane field at Halyala village in Belagavi district and is suspected to have been subjected to black magic, persons in the know of the development said.
“During investigation, we realized the burn marks on the body were made using camphor and almond oil. These are commonly used in black magic practices. The patterns on the body also suggested the same. So, we are investigating from that angle ,” said one of the investigating officers in the case, who did not wish to be named.
Just weeks after, Karnataka police arrested a doctor for murdering his wife by injecting a high dose of drugs in a suspected case of a “black magic ritual” in Davanagere district.
In the rural parts of the state, especially in north Karnataka contacts of these practitioners are household names. “The practice of black magic in northern parts of Karnataka is decades old,” said Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA) president Narendra Nayak.
“In the old regions of the Nizam’s Hyderabad(today’s Kalyana Karnataka), the practice is called Banamathi, which is a form of black magic. Even now, there are those who follow this, and instances of human sacrifice too are reported in this practice. It was because of one such case of human sacrifice, where a child was killed, I left my job and began campaigning against such practices,” he said.
Banamathi has been banned under the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices law. “If you look at the numbers you find online or otherwise, the practitioners will claim that they are not into black magic and they practice only non-harmful old rituals, but if you are really keen you will find people,” Nayak added.
Another rationalist, who didn’t want to be named said that since former MLAs and a former chief minister were alleged to have participated in black magic rituals, some practitioners have got legitimacy and there is confidence that there won’t be a crackdown from the police. “Political class is worried about playing with people’s beliefs, however, heinous they could be. When the anti-superstition act was introduced first time, it was watered down severely. Since lines between black magic and other practices are blurred due to the watering down of the act, there has been no active enforcement from the police, even as these practices are advertised in some parts of the state,” added the activist.
“A crackdown on black magic is high on the police’s priority list... all the cases are investigated rigorously and police act on the information provided to them,” a senior police officer who did not wish to be named said.
Nayak, however, believes that police enforcement is not the solution “When the law came into force, I said something is better than nothing. That is because, unless there is a change in people’s mindset, these practices would continue. Fear of punishment doesn’t stop crime,” he said.
