The twin murder in Kerala in a suspected case of ‘human sacrifice’ has stunned the entire country. Bhagaval Singh, an ‘ayurvedic healer’, and his wife Laila allegedly murdered two women in a village in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala for ‘financial prosperity’.
The Kerala Police have divulged gruesome details about the alleged human sacrifices committed by the couple at the direction of Rasheed alias Muhammand Shafi, an ‘occult practitioner’.
Both the victims were beheaded before their bodies were chopped into pieces, the police said, as per BBC. The mutilated bodies of the two victims were exhumed from the premises of Singh’s house at Elanthoor village in Pathanamthitta.
All three accused have been sent to judicial custody for two weeks.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed shock at the brutal killings, saying ‘only those with a sick mindset could commit such crimes’, PTI reported.
Superstitious acts and black magic practices violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Moreover, they also violate several provisions of international treaties to which India is a signatory, such as the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948’, ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966’, and ‘Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979’, reports ThePrint.
However, India still does not have central legislation to tackle the menace of black magic.
Kerala, which has come close to drafting bills in the past, is yet to introduce legislation punishing those involved in such superstitious and evil acts.
What has been Kerala’s history with anti-superstition laws? Which states have brought legislation against black magic?
Let’s take a closer look.
ALSO READ: How an agent convinced Kerala medic couple to offer human sacrifice of two women
Kerala
In 2014, a working draft of the bill titled ‘The Kerala Exploitation by Superstition (Prevention) Act’ was prepared by the then Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) A Hemachandran.
However, the draft did not go anywhere and Kerala failed to enact a comprehensive law against black magic.
Two women in Kerala were murdered in a suspected case of ‘human sacrifice’. PTI
Hemachandran, who is now retired, told The New Indian Express (TNIE) that the draft came in the wake of several incidents of violent killings in Kerala linked to superstition.
“Two or three murders were reported during that period which forced the government to think about a law to deal with superstitious beliefs. I consulted with the district police chiefs on such incidents before preparing the draft. Then home secretary Nivedita P Haran was also interested in enacting a law. The draft was submitted before the assembly subject committee, but I don’t know what had happened after that,” he was quoted as saying by TNIE.
As per The Hindu, the Kerala Law Reforms Commission formed a draft bill titled ‘Kerala Prevention of Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery and Black Magic Bill’ in 2019. It was submitted to the state government, however, it was not introduced in the state assembly by the Vijayan government, reports TNIE.
The 2019 bill called for imprisonment of up to seven years for convicts and up to Rs 50,000 fine along with the punishments for offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Moreover, it also said the name and residences of convicts shall be published in local newspapers, as per The Hindu.
Maharashtra
The state government passed the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act in 2013.
Under the law, it is illegal to engage in black magic, human being sacrifices, the use of magic to treat diseases, and practices that exploit people’s superstitions, as per Legal Service India.
The law also aims to curb superstitions that lead to financial loss and physical harm.
The guilty can be sentenced to imprisonment between six months to seven years and fined anywhere from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000.
The police will have to publish the name and place of residence of the convict along with the place of the offence in the local newspaper.
Even though it has been nine years since the law was passed, the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) claimed the state government is yet to implement the act.
In August this year, MANS demanded the formulation of rules for the implementation of the Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Act.
Dr Narendra Dabholkar, the founder of the anti-superstition outfit, was shot dead in Pune on 20 August 2013 allegedly by members of a right-wing extremist group.
Dabholkar’s son Hamid said the governments have changed in the state since the act was passed, however, no dispensation has formulated rules for its enactment.
“Till date, after the passage of the act, it was expected to formulate the rules, but that has not been done. During the past two months, many serious cases have been reported across the state regarding extreme superstitious behaviour which makes it essential to frame the rules,” Hamid told Hindustan Times earlier this year.
Karnataka
Karnataka notified an anti-superstition statute in 2020 along the lines of the Maharashtra act.
The Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhumane Evil Practices and Black Magic Act, 2017, came into effect on 4 January 2020.
The legislation bans 16 acts that harm other people in the name of witchcraft, black magic and superstition. The culprits convicted under the act can be imprisoned, or fined, or both under various IPC provisions including Section 302 (murder), section 307 (attempt to murder) and 308 (abetment to suicide), as per TNIE.
The law lays down punishment for violations including “imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year but which may extend to seven years and with fine which shall not be less than five thousand rupees but which may extend to fifty thousand rupees”.
The anti-superstition act was passed in the state assembly under the tenure of then Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah amid opposition from the BJP who had then claimed the law was “anti-Hindu”.
Congress had not implemented the law fearing a political fallout in view of the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections, which the party eventually lost.
Recent black magic incidents
In another incident of ‘human sacrifice’, two men were arrested for allegedly killing a six-year-old boy, as a ‘sacrifice for prosperity’, at the construction site of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) headquarters in South Delhi’s Lodhi Colony in early October this year.
In August 2022, a five-year-old girl was murdered by her family members who wanted to ‘relieve her of an evil spirit’ in Maharashtra’s Nagpur. The family wanted to ‘drive the evil spirit out of her body’ after she was heard reciting Sanskrit shlokas and prayers, as per Times of India.
A couple in Andhra Pradesh killed their two daughters in 2021 as part of an occult ritual. News18 File Photo
A couple in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district killed their two daughters in 2021, believing that they would come back to life within hours after being cleansed of evil.
As per NDTV, Alekhya (27) and Sai Divya (23) were found in red saris, covered in blood with smashed heads. They had been killed reportedly with a dumbbell.
With inputs from agencies
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