being a change agent (a): lessons from a lynch mob

Introduction:

"Being a Change Agent"is a three-part case series set in a rural district of Assam in India. It
describes the efforts made by Kuladhar Saikia, Deputy Inspector General of Police in the early
2000s, to tackle witchcraft-related crimes that were prevalent in this isolated and economically
backward part of the country.

Kuladhar Saikia, newly appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, was shocked by
the story of Subhash Bodo, a 13-year-old boy who was accused of helping them kill his father.
Saikia set about trying to understand the life of the villagers under his charge, who lived a hard
life of poverty and ignorance due to poor infrastructure. Despite 18 arrests, there had been no
convictions, and Saikia was unable to convince the villagers to abandon their centuries-old
superstitions. He had to find a way to do something, but it was difficult with limited manpower, a
tight budget, and a vast and troubled territory to police.

The state of Assam is located in the northeastern corner of India and is one of the most green and
fertile regions of the country. It is home to many national parks and wildlife reserves, and its
people form a rich mosaic of ethnic tribes with highly distinctive cultures. Despite being richly
endowed with natural resources, Assam was one of the least developed states in India due to its
vulnerability to natural disasters, prolonged ethnic conflicts between tribes, skirmishes with
illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, high unemployment, and the physical
inaccessibility of its rural communities. Agriculture accounted for over a third of Assam's
domestic product, and farms produced rice, rapeseed, mustard and a wide range of fruit and
vegetables. Industrial development also trailed most other states, largely due to the high cost of
transportation, poor infrastructure and a shortage of capital.

Despite its rich flora and fauna, breath-taking natural beauty and ancient monuments, Assam's
tourism potential was largely untapped given the ongoing law and order problems in the state.
The Indian economy grew 6% between 1981 and 2000, but Assam's grew 3.3% annually during
that period. By 1998, the national per capita income was over 1.8 times that of Assam and a
whopping 36.09% of the state's population lived below the poverty line. Assam had the highest
levels of terrorist activity and insurgency in the country in 2001, and was the birthplace of
Kuladhar Saikia. Unemployment rates, particularly among women, were high, and the state
lagged the national average on virtually every measure of human development, including
literacy, infant mortality and life expectancy. Rural Assam fared worse than urban areas on these
indicators, and education infrastructure had improved, but there was a shortage of trained
teachers and classrooms at the elementary level. The Assamese people felt neglected and
discriminated against, leading to the emergence of militant groups that sought greater autonomy
or independence.

Efforts made by Kuladhar Saikia

Kuladhar Saikia was born in 1959 in Assam and joined the Indian Police Service in 1985. He
worked his way up the police service hierarchy and experimented with the formation of nagarik
(community) committees to engage the public in policing their own neighbourhoods. He was
awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 2000-2001 to study at Pennsylvania State University in the
United States and his research focused on leadership, resource management and community
development. In 2000, he studied community resource management in several countries and his
report examined case studies from around the world on how autonomous, self-governed
communities managed communally owned natural resources in a sustainable manner. In 2001, he
was appointed DIG (West) and moved to Kokrajhar, an economically backward, crime-infested
region of rural Assam. He reported directly to Harekrishna Deka, Director General of Police in
Assam.

Kokrajhar District and Witchcraft

Kokrajhar District and Witchcraft was a predominantly rural area on the north bank of the
Brahmaputra River in 2001. It lagged the rest of the state on most indicators of human
development, with 31.5% of its 905,764 predominantly Bodo tribe residents living below the
poverty line. There were pockets of tribal and other indigenous people all over India who were
poor, uneducated and isolated from the mainstream. Tribal villagers often believed their illnesses
could only be cured by traditional medicine and went to local village healers who used herbal
medicines and other superstition-driven practices. These healers sometimes were not always able
to cure their patients, and sometimes they were suspected of being witches. The villagers often
tried to 'neutralize' the evil through prayer or witch-hunting before seeking modern medical help.
Between 1987 and 2003, as many as 2,556 women were designated witches and killed in India.
A common herb prescribed by village healers was Datura, and when children became delirious,
villagers believed that they had been bewitched and a witch-hunt began. There were several
ways to identify a daini, such as an astrologer or a priest revealing her name after a religious
ceremony, but a recent study revealed a far more gruesome method: the patient was covered with
a net and pricked with thorns and other sharp things until it becomes difficult to bear the pain.
Saikia believes that at least 50% of the time, greed or personal grudges drove the "choice" of the
daini. The killings themselves were gruesome, with the body being cut into pieces and buried
separately to guard against her rebirth. One of the most macabre episodes took place in the tiny
village of Thaigarguri.

Thaigarguri Village

Thaigarguri Village in Assam was surrounded by dense forest and had 80-90 households of
about 400 people. Most of the villagers were tribals, 90% speaking the Bodo language. They
were landless labourers working in agriculture, others worked as domestic help in the cities, and
some made handicrafts. Education was limited and the only primary school was in disrepair. To
escape poverty, many turned to opium and joined local militant groups.

Despite government schemes and agencies, two significant barriers prevented these funds from
having the desired impact: corruption and lack of connectivity on the ground. Even the police
ventured into the village only when a law and order problem occurred, making it difficult for
them to operate as an effective interface between the government and the villagers.

In May 2000, a serious infection took hold in an isolated village, leading to several children
falling ill and some dying. The local village healer was not able to find a cure, and there were
murmurings that witchcraft and black magic were behind the scourge. A priestess, a 90-year old
woman from Kokrajhar town, was brought in by the villagers to perform a prayer service or puja
at which she would name the witch behind their suffering. On the night of May 25, 2000, the
village elders held a meeting led by headman Samarendra Hazarika and announced that the
priestess had revealed the names of the five witches and that their punishment was death. A
violent mob lynched the five accused and killed them.
The only woman, Lakhi Bodo, never had a chance, as she was dragged by her hair to the front
courtyard and her terrified eyes caught a glimpse of a ring of faces lit up by a flaming torch. The
next day, the police arrested 17 other villagers on charges of murder, but no one was convicted
because no witnesses would testify against them.

Saikia, a police officer in Kokrajhar, was shocked to learn that some of the victims' family
members had been part of the lynch mob. He began questioning his police officers, the villagers,
and finally the boy himself. He realized that belief in witchcraft was deeply embedded in the
villagers' psyche, and that witch-hunting was an abomination that had to be rooted out. He
recognized that it would be no easy task, as he could only visit a village twice a year and his
understaffed police force's contact with the villagers was restricted to enforcing law and order.
He could not access additional manpower or money to put an end to crimes driven by deeply
entrenched beliefs in inaccessible communities. The policeman encountered witch-hunting in his
community, which he recognized as a symptom of poverty, unemployment, militant insurgency,
poor health care, low education and dangerous superstitions. He met the accused villagers, who
were on bail, and they were not at all repentant for killing five innocents. He realized that the
entire village had come together as a single entity to murder a fellow villager to save their
community from evil. He asked if they could channel this unity towards something positive,
something that would benefit the entire community.