Inheriting a curse: Girls branded ‘witch’

Kadawal (Madhya Pradesh): An evil social tradition has led to discrimination against around 1,500 women and girls of a Hindu community in a dozen villages in Madhya Pradesh. They are ill-treated not only by members of  their tribe but also by own families, turning their lives into hell.

Their only fault is that they are born to a woman whose lineage is traced to a woman who had been branded a “witch” by villagers more than a century ago. Their surname is dayin, inherited from their biological mothers. The social evil is more visible in two districts of Madhya Pradesh.

Dikshya Patidar of Kadawal village in Shajapur district is barely four years old, but she has already learnt how hard the life could be for a “witch”.

“Uncles and aunties taunt me  whenever I step out of my house to play. They make me feel as if I am an untouchable and cursed,” said Dikshya.

Her maternal grandmother had been branded a “witch” by members of her Khadag Patidar community. Dikshya is not the only victim of the age-old evil tradition.

Around 1,500 women and girls of the community living in nearly a dozen villages in Shajapur and Rajgarh have been facing similar discrimination.

“Their life is hell,” said Mahendra Singh Patidar, president of MP Patidar Samaj, who has waged a relentless battle over the past four years to end the evil practice.

“Family members, other than her mother, even refuse to brush the hair of a baby girl born to dayin woman,” he said.

According to him, the practice of branding women as “witch” and the social ostracism is about a century-old.

The social evil bars girl and women branded “witch” from cooking and serving food to members of their own families as well as others in the community. Their presence in social occasions such as marriage is also considered inauspicious.

Girls branded as “witch” are barred from marrying boys born to a normal woman and forced to find a bridegroom born to dayin women. The chances of finding such a match are remote and even if such a marriage is fixed, other community members do not attend it as it is considered inauspicious.

Children born to “witches” also face discrimination in death as community members stay away from their rituals.

“Every dawn reminds a ‘witch’ woman of a miserable day ahead of her and every nightfall makes her shudder to think tomorrow will be no better,” Vishnu Patidar, general secretary of MP Patidar Samaj, said.

He has seen his wife and two daughters undergo the trauma of leading lives of “witches”.

“Fortunately, my married daughters are blessed with sons and not daughters to carry forward the dreaded legacy,” Vishnu Patidar observed.

“The young generation of girls born to women with witch lineage want an end to the evil. We have initiated moves in this direction but all our efforts are facing resistance,” the president of the samaj said.

The girl victims have recently made representations to the collectors and superintendents of police of the two districts seeking their intervention to do away with the tradition or grant them permission for legal abortion of girl child so that no “witch” is born in future.

Deputy collector of Shajapur district Kalavati Adavayer, a Patidar herself, visited Kadawal village recently to persuade the community members to end the dreaded practice. But, the women folk, other than the victims, shouted her down.

“Do whatever you like, we will not accept them (victims) as one among us,” the deputy collector quoted them as saying while speaking to this newspaper.