41 CASES OF USE ON ANTI SUPERSTITION LAW !

The Statesman

Earlier this month, a woman approached Kavita (name changed) with a proposition: if she agreed to partake in some rituals, it would rain money, she was told. The woman in question also told Kavita to find other girls; only, they must not have undergone any surgery, and would have to abstain from any medical check-ups.

Though the prospect of money rain (paison ki baarish) was alluring, Kavita, a resident of Dapoli in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, grew suspicious, and informed her parents. On 16 February, an FIR was registered at a police station in Ratnagiri invoking the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013. It was the 41st instance of the anti-superstition legislation being used in the state since it was passed as an ordinance on 24 August, 2013. The Legislative Assembly enacted it into a law on 13 December last year, making Maharashtra the first and only state to have such a regulation in place.

Krishna Changule of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), who maintains a database of such cases, says most instances when the law has been invoked involves cases where women have been molested and sexually exploited by 'godmen' on the pretext of facilitating a solution to their problems. The ordinance was enacted four days after the murder of rationalist and MANS activist Narendra Dabholkar in Pune, allegedly by right wing Hindutva forces. Dabholkar had drafted the original Bill, which had been introduced in the state Assembly in 2003. The government, however, had been dragging its feet on enacting a law against superstition till Dabholkar's murder sparked wide-ranging protests.

Right wing Hindu organisation like Hindu Janjagran Samiti and Sanatan Prabhat had opposed the law, saying it would malign Hinduism. Nandkishor Talashilkar, a MANS activist in Mumbai, says, "But our database shows that people who have been charged and arrested under it include Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists."
Narendra Dabholkar's daughter Mukta, who lodged the FIR in Kavita's case, says one can see a trend from the data. "It appears that 'godmen' recruit women as agents to lure young girls into a prostitution racket."

In close to six months, there have been three instances of human sacrifice where the Act has been used; two more cases are under investigation and the victims in two other cases were saved following timely intervention. Although the enactment of the anti-superstition law has helped bring some fraudsters to book, many continue to thrive after having changed tactics. For instance, advertisements in Mumbai's local trains no longer specify the baba being adept in black magic or tantra. They merely say he can solve all kinds of problems. Also, unlike earlier, addresses are withheld now; only a phone number is provided.