BENGALURU: The Karnataka cabinet has cleared a bill to check exploitation in the name of black magic. The Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill 2017 is the second such initiative in the country after Maharashtra passed the Black Magic Prevention and Prohibition of Exploiting Practices Bill in 2013.
The bill aims to help “combat and eradicate other inhuman, evil sinister practices propagated in the name of so called supernatural or magical power or evil spirit commonly known as black magic by conmen with sinister motive of exploiting the common people in the society and thereby destroying the very social fabric of the society.” It forbids practices that include persuading the performance of inhuman activities for any reason, assault on the pretext of ridding the person of spirits or ghosts, persuading others to parade naked, performing surgeries to change sex of the foetus, indulging in sexual activity in the guise of super natural powers, banning women or others from entering villages, inflicting injuries on oneself, or killing animals among other heinous acts.
Narendra Nayak from the Federation of Indian Rationalists Association said, “Even though such legislation cannot totally get rid of superstitions in the society, it will go some way to prevent exploitation of the gullible people. Superstition can be eradicated from the society only by proper education and teaching the children to develop scientific temper and the spirit of enquiry from a young age itself.”
Harish Ramaswamy, political analyst, says that socially and economically backward classes - Siddaramaiah’s support base - is especially vulnerable to superstitious practices. He adds that with the bill, Siddaramaiah has signalled that he is trying to rescue them from the clutches of practices mostly dictated by upper castes. “He is trying to give them leadership and tell them that these are things that are eating into your economy,” Ramaswamy said while adding that Siddaramaiah is appealing to this section. The Karnataka chief minister had even made a trip to Chamrajnagar which was avoided by his predecessors, owing to a belief that any sitting chief minister would lose his chair if he visited this district.
