The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to explain an incident in which some tribal women were "assaulted" in the name of driving out evil forces, during the ongoing Magh Mela in Allahabad.
A Division Bench of Chief Justice D.Y Chandrachud and Justice Dilip Gupta passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation filed by law intern Deeksha Dwivedi and social worker Utpala Shukla. The Court has directed the State to set up an inquiry committee to investigate the incident and initiate immediate action against the accused.
The petition cited a news report in a local Hindi daily (dated January 23), on the basis of which the Human Rights Law Network constituted a fact finding team into the incident under lawyers K.K Roy and Smriti Karthikeya.
The report found that more than half a dozen tribal women were brought in a jeep to the Sangam area, where they were forcibly pulled out and dragged by their hair all the way into the icy waters of the Ganga.
Once in the river, these women, whose clothes were partially ripped by now, were assaulted with an iron chain, in an act believed to drive out evil spirits.
"The policemen there stood like spectators while it all happened," said Ms. Kartikheya.
The tribal women and the accused, believed to be a group of ojhas, (professional exorcists or spirit healers) hailed from Banda district in Bundelkhand, officially recognized as one of the most backward districts in the country. Both the accused and the victims have not been identified yet. The acts took place close to the Sangam area, which is a high security area during the month-long Magh festival, the annual version of the Maha Kumbh Mela, held in Allahabad every 12 years. The administration hopes to makes use of the CCTV cameras installed at the Sangam to identify the accused and the victims.
Exorcism is a common practice in villages in North and Central India.
The next hearing in the case is on February 5.
