ABSTRACT
When accused witches appeal to the police, they address the state as the agency for setting right grievous wrongs suffered by family and community. While it is widely understood that the police are dominated by patron-client relationships, corruption and show little regard for human rights, in witchcraft-related cases they are revealed as ordinary citizens having a special and sometimes difficult public job. Part 7 traces how the public accusation shifts to a cognisable offence whereby the police interpret, organise, and condense women’s experiences and actions into a First Information Report (FIR). Women accused as witches (or the police acting on their behalf) must carve their legal space out of existing and often old laws. Notably, the system of policing inherited with Independence has remained largely unchanged since the colonial reforms of 1861. A horrific murder in 1995 opened up a line of inquiry into the workings of the police, its ‘cop culture’ and introduced important new practices. Policies were redesigned and in 2005, ten years after the brutal murder, the Chhattisgarh Witchcraft Atrocities (Prevention) Act was introduced.
