The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013 is a

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It prescribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and moral welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal law ...

act for the state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, originally drafted by anti-superstition activist and the founder of

Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti (MANS; or Committee for Eradication of Blind Faith, CEBF) is an organisation dedicated to fighting superstition in India, particularly in the state of Maharashtra. It was founded by Narendra Dabholkar in 1 ...

(MANS),

Narendra Dabholkar Narendra Achyut Dabholkar (1 November 1945 – 20 August 2013) was an Indian physician, social activist, rationalist and author from Maharashtra, India. In 1989 he founded and became president of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti ...

(1945-2013) in 2003. The act criminalises practices related to

black magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 14 ...

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease gods, a human ruler, an authoritative/priestly figure or spirits of dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherei ...

s, use of magic remedies to cure ailments and other such acts which may exploit people's

superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs ...

s. The list of banned activities was continually reduced over the years. In the aftermath of Dabholkar's murder, the resulting bill was

promulgated Promulgation is the formal proclamation or the declaration that a new statutory or administrative law is enacted after its final approval. In some jurisdictions, this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect. After a new law ...

on 26 August 2013, and was formally introduced in the winter session of

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 me ...

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...

in December 2013.

Overview

The current bill has 12 clauses which criminalise only the following acts: * Assault, torture, forced ingestion of human excreta, forced sexual acts,

branding Branding may refer to: Physical markings * Making a mark, typically by charring: ** Wood branding, permanently marking, by way of heat, typically of wood (also applied to plastic, cork, leather, etc.) ** Livestock branding, the marking of animals ...

etc. on the pretext of exorcising

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

s from an allegedly possessed person. * Claiming and broadcasting the ability to perform miracles and defrauding or terrorising people by such means. * Carrying out or encouraging acts which endanger life or cause grievous injury in order to gain supernatural powers. * Carrying out or encouraging inhuman acts or human sacrifice in quest of some bounty or reward. * Creating the impression that a person has supernatural powers and compelling people to follow his/her orders. * Accusing a person of practising black magic or being an incarnation of ''saitan'' (

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

), blaming him/her of causing diseases or misfortune, and harassing the person. * Accusing a person of practising black magic, parading him/her naked and hindering the person's activities. * Claiming the ability to invoke ghosts, causing a panic or intimidating others by threatening to invoke ghosts, or creating the impression of possession, preventing the person from seeking medical treatment, and compelling him/her to inhuman acts. * Preventing a person from seeking medical advice in case of dog, snake, or scorpion bite, and compelling him/her to take magic remedies. * Claiming to perform surgery by fingers (

psychic surgery An alleged psychic surgeon at work Psychic surgery is a pseudoscientific medical fraud in which practitioners create the illusion of performing surgery with their bare hands and use sleight of hand, fake blood, and animal parts to convince th ...

) and claiming to change the sex of an unborn

foetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal develo ...

. * Claiming to be related to a person from a previous

incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...

and coaxing them to sexual acts, and claiming to have supernatural power to cure an impotent woman and having sexual relation with the woman. * Claiming a mentally challenged person to be having supernatural powers and using such a person for personal gain. Although the human sacrifice is already considered murder in India, encouraging human sacrifice has been criminalised in this law. Each

infraction A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary offe ...

carries a minimum sentence of six months and a maximum sentence of seven years, including a fine ranging from to . The offences are

non-bailable Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required. In some countries, ...

and cognisable. The law directs the appointment and training of vigilance officers, to investigate and report these crimes to the local police station. The ranks of these officers are to be greater than the rank of a

police inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

History

The original bill of 2003 was drafted by

. In July 2003, the draft was approved by the state government. The bill was sent for ratification to the Union government by Chief Minister

Sushilkumar Shinde Sushilkumar Sambhaji Shinde (born 4 September 1941) is an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra. He was the Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of Power in the Manmohan Singh government, and the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha until ...

in August 2003. However, it was criticised for having poor definitions of terms like superstition, black magic, spells, sorcery etc. The bill was not presented in the winter session of the legislature. The bill was revised and redrafted by rationalist Shyam Manav. This draft was presented as ''Maharashtra Eradication of Black Magic, Evil and Aghori Practices Bill, 2005''. The bill was introduced for the first time in the Legislative Assembly in the winter session of 2005. The bill, was adopted by the Assembly on 16 December 2006, the last day of the session. The ruling Congress government faced criticism from the lack of debate from the opposition BJP and Shiv Sena. In 2006 there were protests against the bill, including at a demonstration in

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

on 25 February 2006. Protesters, including the

Art of Living Foundation The Art of Living Foundation is a volunteer-based, humanitarian and educational non-governmental organization (NGO). It was founded in 1981 by Ravi Shankar. The Art of Living Foundation has its centers in 180 countries. Art of Living offers s ...

and

Hindu Janajagruti Samiti Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) is a right wing Hindu organisation operating globally and established on 7 October 2002 by a group of Hindus from various backgrounds. The organisation claims that it "stands as a common platform for all Hindus to ...

claimed the bill gave the police power to search, seize or arrest on mere suspicion. Professor Shyam Manav, president, Akhil Bharatiya Andhshraddha Nirmulan Samiti (ABANS), a major force behind the Bill, refuted these claims: “Under IPC, if anyone is obstructing the work of cops, he can be punished. We have made a comprehensive Bill to weed out crimes against people due to superstition.” At the rally a spokesperson for Janajagruti Samiti, Ramesh Shinde, said that the bill was redundant, violated religious freedom and did not acknowledge divine power. I. A. Khan, the caretaker of the Haji Malang Dargah, agreed and added that the bill was influenced by "foreign ideas". The bill was not presented in 2006 monsoon session. A Congress MLA on the condition of anonymity acknowledged that they didn't want to upset their constituencies ahead of the elections. In 2007, instead of being sent to the second house of the legislature, the Legislative Council, it was forwarded to an investigative committee. In July 2008, volunteers from the

(MANS) staged a protest in Mumbai to draw attention to the bill, where the protesters slapped themselves. They claimed that it was to remind themselves that, they had elected the wrong representatives who were not interested in the people's welfare. On 8 November 2010, Narhari Maharaj Chaudhari, the secretary of Maharashtra State Warkari Mahamandal representing the

Warkari Warkari ( Marathi: वारकरी; Pronunciation: �aːɾkəɾiː Meaning: 'The one who performs the ''Wari) is a sampradaya (religious movement) within the bhakti spiritual tradition of Hinduism, geographically associated with the In ...

s, criticised the bill in a press conference stating that it has no clear definition of mental and physical torture. He also stated that it could be used to criminalise every Hindu ritual. He claimed the bill to be redundant as human sacrifice already comes under

Indian Penal Code The Indian Penal Code (IPC) is the official criminal code of India. It is a comprehensive code intended to cover all substantive aspects of criminal law. The code was drafted on the recommendations of first law commission of India established ...

. He defended the Wakari ritual of ''wari'' and called for the bill to be scrapped. On 5 April 2011, Dabholkar, talking at a press conference, criticised television programmes promoting superstitions and called for the bill to be passed. A rally was held at

Azad Maidan Azad Maidan (formerly known as ''Bombay Gymkhana Maidan'') is a triangular-shaped maidan (sports ground) in the city of Mumbai, India. It is located on of land near the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station. It is a regular venue for inter-schoo ...

on 7 April to awareness about the bill. On 7 April 2011, Deputy Chief Minister

Ajit Pawar Ajit Anantrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: �d͡ʒit̪ pəʋaːɾ born 22 July 1959) is an Indian politician. He is the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, and was the 8th Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra in his ...

stated that the bill will be introduced in the budget session while responding to MLA Chainsukh Sancheti's queries about child sacrifices. Pawar clarified that the bill will not affect Wakari rituals or any other religious rites. On 7 July 2011, MANS secretary Milind Deshmukh and Dabholkar stated that an anti-superstition bill had been promised by the government since 7 July 1995 but never passed. They started a telegram-sending campaign to draw attention to the issues and also urged local leaders to send telegrams to the Chief Minister. On 20 August 2013, Narendra Dabholkar, the architect and lead campaigner behind the bill, was shot dead, while he was out on a walk. His death triggered protests and demands for the bill to be passed were made. On 21 August 2013, the Maharashtra government approved the bill as an ordinance. On 24 August 2013,

K. Sankaranarayanan Kateekal Sankaranarayanan (15 October 1932 – 24 April 2022) was the governor of the Indian state of Maharashtra. He had also served as the Governor of Nagaland and Jharkhand. Prior to his appointment as governor, he had served as a minister i ...

, the

Governor of Maharashtra The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor, however the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Ministers. Bhagat ...

signed the ordinance. The ordinance will remain in effect until December 2013, when it will be tabled at the winter session of the state legislature. As of August 2013, the bill has been tabled thrice in the Legislative Assembly and had failed to pass each times, and has undergone 29 amendments. On 4 September 2013, the ordinance was used for the first time to arrest two individuals in the Nanded district, who had advertised miracles cures for AIDS, cancer and diabetes in a newspaper. Members of MANS helped the police understand which clause would be applicable. On 8 September 2013, a man claiming to be an avatar of Krishna was arrested in

Kandivali Kandivali (Pronunciation: aːn̪d̪iʋəliː formerly Khandolee is a neighbourhood in the north of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and has a large Marathi and Koli population followed by Gujarati population living in small areas. The area als ...

under this ordinance. He was also charged under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act for molestation. The bill to enact the law was titled the ''Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Bill 2013'', also known as the Anti-Superstition Bill, Black Magic Bill, Anti-Jaadu Tona Bill or Jadu Tona Andhshradha Virodhi Bill. It was introduced in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on 11 December 2013 by State Social Justice minister Shivajirao Moghe. The bill was passed by the Legislative Assembly on 13 December and by the Legislative Council on 18 December 2013. The bill received assent from Sankaranarayanan on 20 December 2013. The bill enacted into law applies only in the comparatively well-off and well-educated state of

. In the rest of India the population remains without comparable protection from fraudulent pretend-healers and other miracle fakers. Narendra Dalbholkar's daughter, Mukta, and other activists continue his campaign for a national-wide anti-superstition law.

Criticism and support

The bill has been criticised for being anti-Hindu and anti-religion. Dabholkar had responded to the criticism of the bill being anti-religious by stating that the bill does not mention any god or religion, and that only targets fraudulent practices. Manav said that the Wakari sect will not find the bill objectionable, further saying that the law does not prohibit a person from performing a miracle. However, it is a crime if a person claims to perform a miracle and cheats someone. In the aftermath of Dabholkar's murder, journalist Ellen Barry wrote an article for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' about the murder and interviewed a sociologist at the

University of Pune Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), formerly the University of Poona, is a collegiate public state university located in the city of Pune, India. It was established in 1949, and is spread over a campus in the neighbourhood of Ganes ...

about the bill, who explained that the bill had been continually watered down over the years, due to rising opposition from a few Hindus and stating:

Other state laws

In the lines of the Maharashtra Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Act, the state of Karnataka also passed the bill in 2017 was notified in 2020.

References

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Tehelka ''Tehelka'' (Hindi: Sensation) is an Indian news magazine known for its investigative journalism and sting operations. According to the British newspaper ''The Independent'', the ''Tehelka'' was founded by Tarun Tejpal, Aniruddha Bahal and a ...

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DNA India ''Zee Media Corporation Limited'' (abbreviated as ZMCL; formerly Zee News Limited) is the news broadcasting company of the Essel Group which is controlled by Subhash Chandra. The company is engaged mainly in the business of broadcasting of ne ...

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First Post (India) ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Raghav ...

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, date=26 August 2013

External links

Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti
(AntiSuperstition.org) founded by

The Kerala State anti superstition bill proposed by Kerala yukthivadi sangham in 2014
Indian criminal law History of Maharashtra (1947–present) 2013 in India Maharashtra state legislation