New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) BJP’s Rajya Sabha member from Jharkhand, Aditya Prasad, on Thursday termed the ‘ritualistic’ murder of a 13-year-old girl in Hazaribagh district as a deeply “unfortunate” and shocking incident that exposes the dangerous persistence of superstition and black magic in the state.

He raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha. The gruesome case came to light in Kusumbha village under the Bishnugarh police station area, where the minor girl was allegedly strangled to death by her own mother on the night of March 24 as part of a human sacrifice ritual.

Police have arrested the girl’s 35-year-old mother, Reshmi Devi, a 55-year-old occult practitioner (tantrik), Shanti Devi, and another accomplice, Bhim Ram.

According to police, the mother, distressed over her youngest son’s mental and physical ailments, was repeatedly consulting the tantrik, who allegedly advised that sacrificing a “virgin girl” would cure the boy.

Speaking on the incident, Aditya Prasad described it as a horrifying example of blind faith leading to brutal crime. He drew parallels with a previous similar case in which a mother, along with her lover, had sacrificed her child, triggering widespread public outrage and protests across the country that eventually led to the swift resolution of the case.

The BJP leader strongly criticised the JMM-led Hemant Soren government for its alleged failure to take concrete steps to eradicate such superstitious and barbaric practices.

“Despite repeated incidents of human sacrifice and witch-hunting in Jharkhand, the state government is showing no serious effort or political will to end these medieval practices,” Prasad said.

He accused the ruling alliance of remaining insensitive towards the safety and well-being of women and children, particularly in rural and tribal-dominated areas where superstition often holds strong sway.

“The government must launch a massive awareness campaign, strictly enforce anti-superstition laws, and ensure stringent punishment for those promoting black magic and ritual killings,” he demanded.

Jharkhand has long been grappling with cases of witch-hunting and ritual sacrifices, with several districts reporting such crimes regularly.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) has already formed a panel to probe the latest incident, while the district police have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT).

Aditya Prasad urged the state administration to treat this case with utmost seriousness and ensure that it becomes a turning point in the fight against blind faith and ritual violence in Jharkhand.

–IANS

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