Keonjhar: The district administration has launched a campaign involving government officials, people's representatives and villagers to raise awareness about witchcraft and associated violence.

The superstitious practice of witchcraft claimed the life of tribal woman in Keonjhar district last month. Two persons were brutally murdered in witchcraft-related violence in the district in January. On December 31, a tribal woman had met the same fate in Damapur village under Joda police station.Mayurbhanj along with Keonjhar and Nabarangpur districts account for 70 per cent of total registered cases related to witch-hunting and related superstitions. Witch-hunting related violence in Odisha has sharply jumped from 58 in 2015 to 99 in 2017. This means, such incidents have increased by 70 per cent. Keonjhar district has accounted for 22 sorcery killings last year.

The recurrence of witch-hunting violence has given the district a bad name. The administration has taken measures to end this social evil in all seriousness, said project director, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Nrusingha Charan Swain.

The composite action plan to combat witch-hunting is being implemented across the district. It has been decided to train and sensitise various stakeholders by forging coordination with the departments of panchayati raj, health and family welfare, rural development and school and mass education. The district administrations are also part of the action plan.

The trained stakeholders are sensitising people in villages known for witchcraft practices, said project director, DRDA, Nrusingha Charan Swain. The witch-hunting victims were in most cases killed by neighbours or fellow villagers, who were found to be unlettered and illiterate. Lack of awareness, superstition and deep-rooted beliefs have been found to be some of key causes behind this practice, said sub-divisional police officer, Sriharsha Mishra.

Witchcraft-related violence is steadily on the rise in the tribal villages of the district. Police are launching anti-witchcraft campaigns from time to time. A police officer said that these incidents were rooted in poverty, family disputes, blind beliefs and lack of education.

He said that 'tantriks' or witch doctors in these areas are the troublemakers who motivate and convince gullible tribal people to brand women as witches. It's mostly helpless and defenceless women who are falling prey to sorcery violence. Widows, destitute women are targeted by self-styled witchcraft practitioners to grab property owned by these women, said human rights activist Biswapriya Kanungo.