The State Commission for Women (SCW) has sought for establishment of special courts for providing speedy trial in all cases of witch-branding and hunting cases and recommended the Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act 2013 be made more stringent to put brakes on the abhorrent and superstitious-bound practice.

“It shall be the duty of the State government to establish an adequate number of courts to ensure that cases of witch branding and hunting and offences under the Act are disposed of within a period of 60 days. Every appeal under this Act should be disposed of within a period of 90 days from the date of judgment,” the SCW said in a letter to the State government on Friday.

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The branding of victims as witches should also be treated as heinous crime with stringent punishment. Identifying, causing, stigmatizing, defaming or accusing any person by words or signs or any actions is witch branding and subsequent abetting physical or mental harm, injury or harassment which may involve mass frenzy, sexual or emotional violence should be punishable, the SCW wrote in the letter.

The women commission wanted both jail and pecuniary punishment for persons found involved in branding and hunting in sorcery-related violence.

The branding of a person should attract not less than one year of jail term and fine not less than Rs. 1 lakh, persons hurting a person physically should be punished more than one-year imprisonment and fine Rs. 5 lakh or both. The witch doctors should also be equally treated as complicit in the crime. There should be punishment of life imprisonment for person who drives the victim to commit suicide in witch- branding case, the SCW recommended.

The government needs to take responsibility for rescue, rehabilitation, treating and bearing legal expenses of victims. It further emphasised on preventing witchcraft related violence. There should be a swift response of the police administration for preventing witchcraft-related violence, it suggested.

As per the National Crime Control Bureau (NCRB)’data-2919, Odisha has recorded 19 witchcraft-related deaths out of the 102 deaths registered all over the country. However many cases go unreported and escape the public glare with the inhuman practice of witch hunting going unabated despite social and legal measures to arrest the trend.

The tribal-dominated districts like Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Ganjam, Sundargarh, Gajapati, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Koraput have a predominantly high number of witch-hunting cases, according to a joint study conducted by ActionAid Association and Odisha State Commission for Women in 12 districts of the State.

There have been many instances that have gone unreported because of the fear and stigma surrounding them.