<p>The Jharkhand High Court has directed the state government to file a detailed report on the measures taken by the administration to prevent witch-hunting.</p>.<p>A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen on Tuesday heard a public interest litigation initiated suo motu on the rising number of instances of people being brandished as witches, leading to public humiliation and even death of the victims.</p>.<p>The court asked the government to file a comprehensive report detailing the steps taken to improve the situation. The next date of the hearing has been fixed as September 9.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/india-struggles-to-eradicate-an-old-scourge-witch-hunting-1218644.html">India struggles to eradicate an old scourge: Witch hunting</a></strong></p>.<p>The judges expressed concern on the issue and observed that separate enactments have been made by the government to curb the practice of witch-hunting, but nothing much seems to have been achieved.</p>.<p>News reports of people being branded as witches and being lynched by mobs are very frequent, the judges observed.</p>.<p>The bench also said that superstition has to be dealt with on a massive scale to stop the evil in the society.</p>.<p>The court said that people have to be made aware and continuous awareness programmes need to be planned and executed to ensure positive results.</p>.<p>The government informed the court that the maximum number of cases of victims being assaulted and killed were from Gumla district.</p>.<p>The rural areas of the district are a hotbed of superstition, the government counsel said.</p>.<p>The PIL was initiated suo motu by the high court in 2015 after a news report stated that five women were tortured and murdered in Mandar, a few kilometres outside the state capital after being branded as witches.</p>.<p>The incident occurred on August 7, 2015 and was reported in a local vernacular daily.</p>.<p>The women were paraded naked in the village before being hacked to death, the report said.</p>.<p>An official said that the number of witch-hunting survivors in Gumla stood at a whopping 476, while a campaign to prevent such incidents has covered 265 villages in the district.</p>
<p>The Jharkhand High Court has directed the state government to file a detailed report on the measures taken by the administration to prevent witch-hunting.</p>.<p>A division bench of Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen on Tuesday heard a public interest litigation initiated suo motu on the rising number of instances of people being brandished as witches, leading to public humiliation and even death of the victims.</p>.<p>The court asked the government to file a comprehensive report detailing the steps taken to improve the situation. The next date of the hearing has been fixed as September 9.</p>.<p><strong>Read | <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/national/india-struggles-to-eradicate-an-old-scourge-witch-hunting-1218644.html">India struggles to eradicate an old scourge: Witch hunting</a></strong></p>.<p>The judges expressed concern on the issue and observed that separate enactments have been made by the government to curb the practice of witch-hunting, but nothing much seems to have been achieved.</p>.<p>News reports of people being branded as witches and being lynched by mobs are very frequent, the judges observed.</p>.<p>The bench also said that superstition has to be dealt with on a massive scale to stop the evil in the society.</p>.<p>The court said that people have to be made aware and continuous awareness programmes need to be planned and executed to ensure positive results.</p>.<p>The government informed the court that the maximum number of cases of victims being assaulted and killed were from Gumla district.</p>.<p>The rural areas of the district are a hotbed of superstition, the government counsel said.</p>.<p>The PIL was initiated suo motu by the high court in 2015 after a news report stated that five women were tortured and murdered in Mandar, a few kilometres outside the state capital after being branded as witches.</p>.<p>The incident occurred on August 7, 2015 and was reported in a local vernacular daily.</p>.<p>The women were paraded naked in the village before being hacked to death, the report said.</p>.<p>An official said that the number of witch-hunting survivors in Gumla stood at a whopping 476, while a campaign to prevent such incidents has covered 265 villages in the district.</p>