Monitoring press freedom and international affairs from Mid-Missouri Public Radio and the Missouri School of Journalism

India's witch hunts

11 May 2018
The bodies of women accused of practicing witchcraft, are placed in a truck in Kinjia village in Jharkhand state, India, Aug. 8, 2015. Dozens of villagers in eastern India beat to death five women, accusing them of practicing witchcraft and blaming them for a series of misfortunes in the village, police said. (AP Photo)

For many, witch trials may seem like a relic of early colonial America. But in fact witch-hunting is still a feature of rural life today in many some of the world.

One place where it's prevalent is India. On average, an Indian woman is killed every other day after being accused of witchcraft, according to government statistics. Many are tortured or publicly-humiliated before being burned, stabbed or beaten to death.

On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at the practice of witch-hunts in India, and why the phenomenon isn't merely an outgrowth of superstition.

Joining the program: 
  • Ashwaq Masoodi, a journalist for an Indian business daily in New Delhi
  • Mahdu Mehra, executive director of Partners for Law in Development, an Indian women's rights group
  • Shashank Sinha, an author and historian who is publishing director of Routledge India
  • Seema Yasmin, a journalist and John S. Knight fellow at Stanford University
 

Assistant producers: Teodora Agarici, Rosemary Belson
Supervising producer: Edom Kassaye
Visual editor: Jiwon Choi
Monitoring press freedom and international affairs from Mid-Missouri Public Radio and the Missouri School of Journalism.
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