Ranchi, India - A social revolution is taking root in Jharkhand's villages. Daughters and granddaughters of women who were once branded witches are coming forward to root out the social evil.
Poonam Toppo, 29, whose grandmother was once tortured for being a witch, has taken up cudgels to fight the crime of branding innocent people witches and then killing them brutally.
A resident of Bhusur village on the outskirts of Ranchi, Poonam became an orphan at the age of eight. She was the third child of her family and lived with her grandmother.
Recalling her past, Poonam, now director of the Ranchi unit of Free Legal Aid Committee (FLAC), said that when a villager died, residents put the blame on her grandmother.
The village panchayat branded her grandmother a witch and she was brutally beaten up. The family was ostracised and prevented from going to the village market or participating in tribal festivals.
"My grandmother was blamed for everything taking place in the village, be it the death of a cow or a buffalo. One day I decided to stand up against this. When they once came to beat my grandmother, I stood at the doorway and asked them to kill me first. The villagers retreated," Poonam said.
"I took up the matter with the panchayat leaders and argued that if my grandmother could kill anyone, then why couldn't she protect herself from the wrath of the villagers. The panchayat accepted my argument and agreed not to harass my grandmother," she said.
Poonam started a campaign against the social stigma at the age of 12. She was ridiculed in school as the granddaughter of a witch. Undaunted, she organised more than 50 plays to create awareness among children.
Seema Toppo, another girl from Namkom village in Ranchi, is also in the campaign. Seema's mother too was tortured by her neighbours. Villagers beat her, blaming her for the death of a woman.
Seema also started a protest campaign by organising street plays and puppet shows.
But women are still being attacked and killed after being branded witches in the state.
Official figures show that 189 women were killed between 2001 and 2006 for allegedly practising witchcraft. The figure is contested by FLAC, which says 412 women were killed between 2001 and 2006.
And since 1991 to July this year, 922 women have been killed.
To prevent witchcraft killing, Bihar unveiled a Witchcraft Prevention Act, 1999. Jharkhand accepted this in 2001.
"Law is not sufficient to curb witchcraft deaths. The real culprits are Ojhas (witch doctors). We want stringent action against anyone torturing women," said Ajay Kumar, a former director of FLAC.