GUWAHATI, Aug 29 - Even as the State has been witnessing a surge in superstition-related crimes, the anti-witch hunt legislation passed by the Assembly has completed a year this month and is still awaiting the President�s assent.
The Assam Witch Hunting (Prohibition, Prevention and Protection) Act/Bill 2015, supposed to be the strictest of its genre in the country, was passed in 2015, after years of demand from civil society, and also an intervention by the Gauhati High Court.
The Act/Bill is currently pending with the Ministry of Home Affairs, which has referred back some of its provisions to the State Government for review.
Commissioner (Home) LS Changsan told The Assam Tribune that around four-five points, including some penal provisions, had been referred back to the State. �As the queries involved several government departments, we are collecting the information and in the process to send it back to the MHA,� she said.
Assam has witnessed several gruesome incidents in the name of �witch hunt�, including murder, rape and torture of persons labelled as witches. The crime has acquired dangerous proposition with most perpetrators aiming to annex land and property, settle personal score, and sexual exploitation by branding a person as �witch�.
While women predominantly fall prey to the pernicious practice, it has increasingly turned menacing for both men and women. Of late, the State has recorded several incidents of men falling victim to this menace.
According to Anurita P Hazarika, programme manager of North East Network (NEN), the State Government must act swiftly to expedite the process for President�s assent.
�Even after getting the assent, a lot remains to be done, including the appointment of a nodal agency to implement and monitor the Act and drawing State rules with adequate budgetary allocation to implement it. If every step takes this long, the proposed Act, which is still in a Bill form would turn into a stodgy affair,� she added.
Five women organisations �All India Democratic Women�s Association, Asom Mahila Sangha, North East Network (NEN), Sadou Asom Pragatishil Nari Santha, Young Women�s Christian Association � met Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in July and sought his intervention.
Prepared to rein in the menace of superstition and also organised crimes in the veil of customs, the proposed Act has made every offence within its ambit �cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable�.
As per government data, till March 2015, 77 people were killed and 60 other injured in �witch hunting� incidents since 2010.