Activists take punishment to open eyes

Mumbai: Activists trying to draw attention to the writ of black magicians and witch doctors in Maharashtra have made the state government sit up and take notice by raining blows on themselves.

The Vilasrao Deshmukh government had indicated it would initiate discussions on the Maharashtra Eradication of Black Magic and Evil and Aghori Practices Act (Anti-Superstition Act) during the monsoon session of the state legislature that started on Wednesday but the activists were obviously not ready to buy assurances.

"We want to ensure that the government sincerely discusses the Bill and gets it passed during the current legislative session," says Prabhakar Nanawati, Editor of Thought and Action, a journal of the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (ANS), an organisation pledged to the fight against superstition.

The ANS is also strongly opposed to astrological and 'vaastu' predictions among other things.

Asked about the self-slapping protest, Nanawati told Gulf News, "This is to remind ourselves that we have committed a mistake by electing people who are not interested in our welfare."

Volunteers have already embarked on the rather painful course of action to highlight the menace in Pune, having apparently slapped themselves 150,000 times over the last two days. "Our aim is to get to two million slaps by July 25 with the concluding session to be held at the Gandhi statue in Mumbai," Nanawati said.

The ANS is keeping count on the basis of the number of times a volunteer slaps himself or herself during a one-minute duration.

If passed, the Act will put a stop to quacks and conmen practicing black magic with a "sinister motive of exploiting and harming mentally, physically and financially the common people in the society...", as the Bill states.

It will also question self-styled 'holy' men who advertise their services and prey on common folk.

According to Nanawati, ANS volunteers have exposed several such cases. "The worst of such practices come to light when human sacrifices are made to appease a deity or to obtain a boon. There are instances when a child has been sacrificed for good luck before a person enters a new home or starts a business," he says.

In the remote areas of Vidarbha, there are still cases of poor women, especially widows, who are treated as witches and stoned to death just because some unfortunate incident has occurred in the village.

Stalled for 9 months

The Bill has for some reason been stalled for nine months now "only because there are many in the government, including senior ministers, who patronise such godmen," he says.

A joint committee under Minister Chandrakant Handore formed to look into the matter has not held a single meeting, he points out.