RITUAL KILLINGS: A SUPERSTITIOUS CRIME OF HUMAN SACRIFICE

 REAL LIFE EVENTS A man with long hair, dressed up totally in black clothes, handling a lamp in one hand and a human skull in the other one,...

 REAL LIFE EVENTS

A man with long hair, dressed up totally in black clothes, handling a lamp in one hand and a human skull in the other one, two human bones are lying in front of him beside a Hawan-kund with fire, the person is citing some mantras and saying "om-bhasma, om-bhasma, om-bhasma" again and again.
This portrayal of a person might have recalled in your mind a climax scene of any horror movie, where without performing this act of ritual the ghost or spirit will not leave the haunted house.
Not only in movies, but in your day to day life also you might have witnessed such persons, either by your personal experience or through a newspaper reading.
One such real-life incident which I had read in 2020 is this:


A girl hacked in Kanpur by a youth and his accomplice in order to kill her and subsequently take out her liver to be eaten by the youth's uncle and aunt so that the childless couple may have a child soon. This was the news on 17th Nov.2020 in the Times of India.

According to this ritual which they performed, a child of parents is killed so that other parents may have a child. (completely illogical)
But that's the truth and many of us are being aware of it.

Killings that happened in Bombay in 1985, where a person used to kill persons sleeping on footpaths and poor ragpickers with stones, is still not solved by the police and its connection is shown with a ritual killing which such person has done to resolve his problems in life.

Same acts of killings as in Bombay also happened in Calcutta in the 1980s, and the weapon was the same, that is Stone.  

In this blog, we are going to analyse the legal aspects of such superstitions and other ritual acts, which are till date being performed in our country.

WHAT IS "HUMAN-SACRIFICE"

What we understand in common parlance by the term "Human Sacrifice" is an act of killing a human to please any god or spirit in whom the person carrying out the act believes, so that whatever he is craving for in his life to attaining, he may get that thing in blessing by such God or spirit.


There is no second opinion that can be made other than that, this act is an offence of murder, as defines Under Section 300 of our INDIAN PENAL CODE,1860.
The only difference is that in committing a murder intention plays a vital role and very little relevance is there for a motive. But when a murder is committed in pursuance of some ritual belief, then it becomes a motive to commit a crime and hence, plays a vital role.

LEGAL ASPECT

There is no such Central Act which governs such acts, but some states have formulated their state laws for such act.
If we go according to Maharashtra prevention and eradication of human sacrifice and other evil acts and black magic Act, 2013. (Hereinafter referred to as Black magic Act) (click to read complete Act)
According to which the term "Human sacrifice is defined as:


Section 2(1)(b) of the Act: Human sacrifice and other Aghori practices and black magic acts mean the commission of any act mentioned in the schedule appended to this Act.

There are many acts provided in the schedule which are prohibited and punishable according to this Act, some of them are:

• In the pretext of ghost, tying a person with a rope and to beat him/her with the stick.
• Forcing a person to perform sexual acts in public
• To make the person eat human excreta or to drink urine
• With a view to receive supernatural blessings, putting the life of a person in danger or cause grievous hurt to such person or to compel any person to do such acts.

and many more such acts are specified in the schedule. After reading such acts, it is made clear that, not only sacrifices of humans are prohibited but also other evil acts or inhuman acts in the name of performing a ritual are also prohibited and are also made a punishable offence.

THE ACT DONE AS AN OFFENCE

According to the above-mentioned Black Magic Act of Maharashtra, such acts are made a punishable offence in the following manner:

SECTION 3 OF THE ACT: "No person shall commit, promote, propagate or practice by himself or by any other person such acts of human sacrifice or of Aghori or other inhuman acts, as are mentioned in the schedule appended to the schedule".

A person guilty of committing any such act according to this Act shall be held liable imprisonment which shall not be less than 6 months which may extend to 7 years and with a fine which shall not be less than 5000 RS and which may extend to 50000 RS.

The same amount of punishment is prescribed for the person who Aids, abets or instigates in the commission of such offence.

MURDER vs. HUMAN SACRIFICE

Where a person is being killed by another person to obtain blessings from his god or by any spirit, no matter he has done that act in pursuance to fulfil a ritual ceremony, he will be committed and convicted for the offence of murder committed by him. Not only the person who has committed murder in the face of sacrificing a human being to a god but also that Tantrik or baba or any such called person who has ordered him or we say in our legal terms, who have abetted him to commit such act, will also be held liable, according to the SECTION 3 of the black magic Act, read with, SECTION 300 of INDIAN PENAL CODE, read with SECTION 109(punishment for abetment when the act abetted is committed) of INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860. (click on any section to read that).

CASE LAWS ON RITUAL KILLINGS

Rajendra Ambhore VS. Union of India (2021) click to read the whole judgment


In this case, a person was selling a "Hanuman Yantra" ( an amulet), proclaiming that, whosoever wears this or carry this, then such person will earn huge profit in his business, will always remain happy, if he is a student then will progress in his career. In such act, not only the person who promised such things but also the TV advertiser was held liable according to SECTION 3 of the Black Magic Act of Maharashtra, because the TV advertiser, propagated and promoted such acts.


Ishwari Lal Yadav VS. State of Chattisgarh (2019) click to read the whole judgment


In this case, a woman ordered her two accomplices to bring a child so that she can sacrifice her in front of her idol in order to attain "siddhi". The two persons who brought the child for her and the woman were held guilty as per Section 302 read with Section 34 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860.

CONCLUSION

It is true that, if an act of human sacrifice is committed then it may be sufficiently dealt with the provisions of Murder as per IPC. But, as we have seen in this blog, that, not only human sacrifices are done, but other sorts of inhuman acts and evil acts are done by persons to attain something which is scientifically not possible, but it is their superstition that by doing such act they will attain their wish.


In order to not only punish the commission of such acts but in order to make people aware and to prohibit such superstitions which are prevailing in our society, a central level act needs to be brought on this and with graver punishment.
Graver punishment is recommended by me because, besides committing of offence or abetting such offence, such persons religious beliefs are tarnished and they are made fools by these tantriks and babas, which are god for them, but in reality, they are grave criminals. So, a person needs to be stopped from thinking a criminal as a god.

To read my previous legal blogs you may visit Lawionsoflaw.blogspot.com

As a reader of this blog, I invite you to comment your views on this topic

Thank You

Nikhil Tak (Campus Law Centre, Delhi University).