| Abstract: | The new ?Witch Craft Prevention Bill? prohibiting witch hunting was passed in Bihar, India, in reaction to the branding and subsequent killing of more than 500 helpless women as "dayans" (witches) in the past 7 years. Most of them were single, widows, or deserted women victimized by the pathological greed of some of the male members of their families or by some powerful persons in the village community interested in claiming their property. Even with the passage of the bill, though, most of these crimes will remain unpunished because the community is an accomplice in them, and they tend not to be reported. What is needed overall is socioeconomic and political development that will lead to the empowerment of women to ensure that there will be an end to the cruel and inhuman activities (such as witch hunting) instigated by traditional healers or "Ojhas". |
