Eight people have been arrested in Odisha’s Gajapati district on Thursday in connection with the murder of a man on suspicion that he practised sorcery.
The deceased, Karunakar Dalei, was from Kamalapur village in Jirang gram panchayat, but had been staying in Kusumpur village for the last eight months, where he made and sold herbal medicine. But after a villager’s 12-year-old son died last month, rumours of Dalei practising witchcraft started doing the rounds.
On July 28, some villagers took him from his house to an anganwadi centre where he was confined for three days and beaten mercilessly till he died. The suspects buried his body in the forest on a hillock about 4 km away from the village.
Gajapati superintendent of police (SP) Jatindra Panda said the accused were arrested after a police complaint by the victim’s sister-in-law at the police station. The body of the deceased was exhumed on Thursday in the presence of a magistrate.
This is the fourth murder in connection with suspicions of witchcraft \in a week in Odisha.
On Saturday, a 37-year-old man was tortured and murdered in Gajapati district. The mutilated body of Gopal Mallik was found near a dam on Sunday, following which police arrested 14 villagers over their involvement in the murder.
Last week, a 60-year-old man in Kalahandi was killed by two persons on suspicion of practising witchcraft while a 59-year-old man in Ganjam district was tortured by four persons, including a woma,n over suspicion of practising sorcery.
{{/usCountry}}Last week, a 60-year-old man in Kalahandi was killed by two persons on suspicion of practising witchcraft while a 59-year-old man in Ganjam district was tortured by four persons, including a woma,n over suspicion of practising sorcery.
{{/usCountry}}The Odisha Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act, 2013 criminalises witch-branding and imposes strict penalties. However, the Act lacks provisions to tackle the deep-rooted social stigma and ostracisation faced by victims. Many victims and their families are forcefully driven out of villages, suffering long-term social and economic exclusion.
Witchcraft-related deaths are more common in tribal-dominated districts such as Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Malkangiri, and Ganjam.
According to National Crime Records Bureau reports, Odisha has seen at least 556 killings due to witchcraft between 2015 and 2024.
Former Odisha DGP BK Sharma said that though the Odisha Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act was implemented to address witch-hunting in the state, it still lacks teeth to contain the widespread menace.
“The Act has only 11 sections and all of them have been covered in just two-and-a-half pages. The Act requires crucial amendments to effectively deal with such cases. As per the Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Act, 2015, government functionaries can be made liable too if they do not inform the police about the victims being branded as witches,” said Sharma, adding that in cases of branding of victims as witches or witch-hunting related murders, the entire village supports the accused persons.