• In the aftermath of the twin murder in Kerala in a suspected case of ‘human sacrifice’ has stunned the entire country. Bhagaval Singh, an ‘ayurvedic healer’, and his wife Laila allegedly murdered two women in a village in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala for ‘financial prosperity’.
• The major Indian society is driven by religion and beliefs related to it. Religion is believed to be shaping the lives and behavioural conduct of all Indians. This immense importance and a wider scope of meaning hasn’t allowed anyone to lay a specific definition of religion. But the concept of religion is connected to the idea of a superior order of existence or life and the assumption of the existence of a superior being. Even though the Preamble to the Indian Constitution does not highlight the proper and specific meaning of ‘religion’, the Preamble, Article 25 and Article 26 introduces the right to freedom of professing, practising and propagating any religion without any discrimination. Every religious section has the rights to manage their religious institutions, affairs related to religion and administer property according to law. But the exercise of the freedom of religion is also bound by limitations. It cannot contravene fundamental rights or go against public order, health and morality and such other limitations.
• Judicial precedents and interpretations highlight that rituals, ceremonies, and modes of worship constitute an important part of religion. Often on this basis, superstitious practices and traditions take over and there are no bounds to stop it. Although the concept of essentiality is not considered to be the basis on which anti-superstition or superstition is decided upon, it is indeed an important mode for adjudging which practices, traditions and beliefs are an important part of the religion. But the Constitution does not consider the concept of essentiality and talk about it clearly. It is very difficult to chalk out practices that are essential for a religion. Practices disapproving human rights and against humanity cannot be approved as an essential part of a religion. But often the conflict and disputes start on this point where the trial to forbid inhumanity in the name of religion is opposed by the fundamental right to freedom of religion. Offenders and criminals frequently take the defence of freedom of religion for the crimes they commit.
• Human sacrifices, cheating, exploitation, fraud and abuses are still glorified in several parts of India in the name of religion, culture and tradition till today. Time and again India has felt the requirement for anti-superstitious laws. The pre-existing laws, for instance, the Indian Penal Code is not well equipped to take account of all crimes committed as a matter of superstitious practices. Even though the constitution gives us the right to believe in things and practices which do not have any scientific backing, it is high time that new legislations are required to oppose inhumanity, brutality, fraud and human sacrifices made in the name of religion. 
• Superstitious acts and black magic practices violate the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Indian Constitution. Moreover, they also violate several provisions of international treaties to which India is a signatory, such as the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948’, ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966’, and ‘Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979’.
• However, India still does not have central legislation to tackle the menace of black magic. India needs legislation on superstition, though what should go into it requires debate. Every superstition cannot be removed by the force of law. For that, a mental change is necessary. However, superstitious practices that are utterly dehumanising, brutal and exploitative need to be dealt with by a law that specifically addresses them.
• While presently there exists no nationwide legislation to deal with superstitious practices, black magic, or human sacrifice in particular, certain sections of the Indian Penal Code enlist penalties applicable for such incidents. 
• Section 302 (punishment for murder) takes cognisance of human sacrifice, but only after the murder is committed. Likewise, Section 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) works to discourage such practices. 
• Furthermore, Article 51A (h) of the Indian Constitution makes it a fundamental duty for Indian citizens to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. 
• Other provisions under the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act of 1954 also aim to tackle the debilitating impact of various superstitious activities prevalent in India.

State-specific laws

• The state of Bihar emerged the pioneer in enacting a law to deal with superstitious practices in 1999. The Prevention of Witch Practices Act was amongst the first in India to address witchcraft and inhumane rituals. 
• The state of Maharashtra followed in 2013 to enact the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, which banned the practice of human sacrifice in the state. A section in the legislation specifically deals with claims made by ‘godmen’ who say they have supernatural powers. Additionally, the law also makes it possible to curtail activities of so-called godmen before they become too powerful to effectively address the menace of exploitation in the name of religion. 
• Likewise, the state of Karnataka too effected a controversial anti-superstition law in 2017 known as the Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Act, which comprehensively counters “inhumane” practices linked to religious rituals including performing any inhumane act, evil practices and black magic in search of treasure, bounty, tantric acts including physical and sexual assault, creating impression of ‘possession’ and exorcism or assaulting people under the garb of exorcism, making claims of healing power, coercing people to perform fire-walking, and so on. The Karnataka law also particularly lists out penalties for spreading misinformation and creating panic in the garb of ghosts or black magic.
• In 2014, a working draft of such a bill titled ‘The Kerala Exploitation by Superstition (Prevention) Act’ was prepared by the then Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) A Hemachandran. However, the draft remained in cold storage and Kerala failed to enact a comprehensive law against black magic. The Kerala Law Reforms Commission formed another draft bill titled ‘Kerala Prevention of Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery and Black Magic Bill’ in 2019, which called for imprisonment of up to seven years for convicts and up to Rs 50,000 fine along with the punishments for offenses under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, both these bills failed to see the light of the day and were not introduced, discussed, or passed in the state legislative assembly. 

Legal precedents

• In 2019, a district court in Chandigarh sentenced a man to life imprisonment till his natural death for brutally slitting the throat of a four-year-old girl in the name of human sacrifice. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the accused and punished him under Section 302 of the IPC. The judgment reads: “The ghastly crime… does not in any manner make the accused (Kamlesh) entitled to any sort of leniency. He can be punished with death, or imprisonment for all of his life, which is the rule, while capital sentence is an exception to be resorted to for special reasons.” 
• The present IPC is not equipped to take care of crimes committed on account of black magic and other superstitious practices. A separate law is necessary because the relationship between a devotee and so-called godman is of a peculiar nature, often marked by violence. Consider the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, 2005. There are provisions in the IPC to punish violence, but the peculiar nature of the violence faced by women within the family needed a separate law.
• Furthermore, such practices tend to notoriously target the vulnerable sections of society in a lopsided manner, including women, children, and the poor. 
• In fact, the state’s role in curtailing such barbaric practices has historically seen resistance from certain elements in the communities practicing such rituals. For instance, between 1837 and 1856, the Kandh tribes retaliated against the British efforts to put an end to the Kandh’s practice of human sacrifice, known as mariah. Members of the tribe in areas of Ghumsar, Kalahandi, and Patna fought a bloody battle against the colonial masters using tangis (a sort of battle axe-bows and arrows) and staged a strong resistance to any such intervention. 
• Allowing the unhindered continuance of such practices violates an individual’s fundamental right to equality and right to life under Articles 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution respectively. In the absence of measures to tackle superstitions, unscientific and irrational practices such as faith healing, quackery, and misinformation regarding medical procedures can also balloon up, which can have severe detrimental effects on public order and health of citizens. 

Summing up

• Burning people for curing diseases, hiring babas to conduct an exorcism, raping and killing women in the name of witch-hunting and such brutalities cannot be ignored by the authorities and the legal system. Yes, the Constitution allows freedom of religion but that cannot be against the State. Laws made for the interest of the public can restrict religious practice against the state, public order, morality, health, fundamental rights and, so on. Inhumanity cannot be caused in the name of religion, it was even the practice of Sati which was believed to be conducted in the name of religion but it was for removing the woman from the path of the family and relatives so that the man’s property could be inherited by them without any divisions or obstructions. One should enjoy his or her rights but that should not be inconsistent with the enjoyment of rights by others. India needs more legislations to do away with the evils of superstition and superstitious beliefs. Even the existing legislations have enough developments to be made and enough loopholes for one to go against it. But in the light of needing more laws and legislations, one cannot ignore the requirement for education and a developed mental status for people to understand the difference between crime, humanity and superstitions. 
• However, it is pertinent to remember that bringing a legislation to deal with this social issue shall only mean half the battle won, wherein meaningful reform will need to increase awareness among the masses through information campaigns, and by roping in community/religious leaders to debunk the myths surrounding such practices.