It was sheer desperation that drove Shanti (name changed) to the madhom (place of worship) of Mohanan, a shaman who specialises in dark arts. Working as a domestic help, she found the drudgery too much and her husband was bedridden following an accident.
The 42-year-old, the sole breadwinner of the family, was struggling with personal and financial setbacks that bore down on her every day. It was a friend she met at a recruitment agency who suggested the solution to all her problems. In hushed tones she talked about a man who could change her life in a jiffy.
The madhom was on the Kollam-Pathanamthitta border, an isolated home surrounded by rubber trees. The house was cloaked in an eerie silence, which was occasionally shattered by the tinkle of the bells used for worship. It was his wife who welcomed Shanti and the friend, who accompanied her, into the prayerhall of the house. Bizarre symbols and cryptic glyphs adorned the walls of the hall. Sculptures that reminded voodoo dolls were conspicuously displayed there, adding to the otherworldly ambiance of the room.
Mohanan said the gods were displeased with her and a ritual was required to stop them from further unleashing their fury. “He gave me some wooden symbols to take home and I paid him ₹500. After I scraped together enough money for the ritual, I was asked to come on a Friday afternoon. The heady smell of some puja materials emanated from the room as I stepped in,” remembers Shanti.
The wife and a helper of Mohanan were standing in a corner, watching the proceedings in rapt attention. “I saw four men outside and I was told they were there to consult Mohanan. The ritual took around 40 minutes to complete and I was given the prasad (the consecrated food). That’s all I could initially remember about the events that took place in the afternoon,” she says.
“Later, when I opened my smoke-stung eyes, I was lying on the floor. I realised to my utter shock that I was raped and it was not just one person, who violated me. Later, his wife told me whatever happened was the gods’ will and it was the only way to please them,” she adds. Shanti never approached the police to file a complaint and still lives in fear.
“Later, we moved to another rented house and changed my mobile number to avoid him contacting me again. But even today a knock on the door sends tremors down my spine,” she says.
The place she met Mohanan is around 30 km from Oyoor (nearly 22 km from Kollam city), where Tushara, a young mother, was starved to death in 2019. While her husband and mother-in-law were arrested for dowry death, investigation had also unearthed a trail of suspicious activities.
The house she lived was frequented by black magic practitioners and the 27-year-old was fed only raw rice and sugar for months. Though people in the neighbourhoodand the girl’s family came up with some alarming stories, no serious probe took place in that direction as there was no specific law or Section to charge a crime. Tushara weighed only 20 kg when she died and reportedly, her husband practiced occult. Some neighbours said they had seen body parts of cats and roosters on the premises, indicating that some dark rituals were held there in secrecy.
An enquiry as a potential client in Kollam-Pathanamthitta border will yield multiple results depending on one’s requirement.One can easily find practitioners of dark arts who claim to possess special powers to cast a spell, concoct a potion to cure cancer, and make one rich.
Residents say many houses in the area have rakshas (amulet) hanging from the roof or yantras (thin metal plates with geometric patterns or mantras inscribed on them) buried on all corners of the compound to ward off malevolent entities. “We need to change them at regular intervals and the pujas can be short or elaborate and expensive based on the nature of evil energies,” they add.
According to the police, every year hundreds of torture, rape, and extortion cases are registered against black magic practitioners at stations across the State. As per National Crime Records Bureau, Kerala had reported ritualistic human sacrifices in 2019, 2021, and 2022.
In one of the cases reported in 2021, a six-year-old boy from Palakkad was sacrificed by his mother Shaheeda, who claimed it as an attempt to appease god. The 2022 Elanthoor human sacrifice was the perhaps the most chilling case in the State’s history, casting a shadow over its progressive outlook. In 2024, a businessman was killed in Kasaragod by a gang of alleged black magic practitioners, led by Shameena, popularly known as Jinnumma, under the pretext of exorcism.
“We are seeing a large number of superstition-triggered murders and crimes of late. If you take some major crimes during the past five years, many of them are linked to dark arts and rituals. The recent Nenmara double murder and Vellarada case, wherein a 28-year-old man hacked his father to death and later decapitated him, are the latest on the list. The Kambakakkanam murders in 2020, where a family of four was brutally killed and buried, was the result of rivalry between two occultists in Idukki. As per the initial reports, the family was killed by the accused to gain more supernatural powers. But we conveniently forget these aspects until something as ghastly as Elanthoor human sacrifice happens,” says a senior police officer on condition of anonymity.
Recently, a miracle healer was arrested in Thrissur for sexually abusing a homemaker and extorting around ₹60 lakh. The woman, who approached the healer for neutralising kaivisham (evil spell), was drugged, raped, and her nude videos were used for blackmailing her.
In another gruesome case, a four-year-old girl was subjected to severe physical and sexual abuse by her stepfather, who allegedly worshiped dark forces. “According to her mother, who is originally from Tamil Nadu, the accused will rape the child whenever he is ‘possessed’ by the spirit. She was so scared of her husband and the condition of the girl was beyond horrifying. It was a neighbour who reported the case after hearing the screams and it was the most shocking case in my entire career,” says a police officer.
“The woman was so convinced that her husband could control powerful spirits and he will harm her and her other children even if he is jailed. Though we immediately filed a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, she was not willing to cooperate with the investigation due to fear,” the official adds.
The social networking sites have unfortunately provided a new platform for the perpetrators to reach a wider audience and lure vulnerable victims. The deadly blend of primitive practices and modern technology has made the menace all the more dangerous as people from all social strata and age group are falling for it. While social media offer a pool of clients on a platter, the anonymity and the provision to make extravagant claims make it a favourite hunting ground of new-age fraudsters, notes social observers.
“I contacted a tantric through Facebook after reading some testimonials. My daughter was not doing well in her studies and he suggested some pujas to remove karmic blocks from past lives. Initially, there was some progress and I was convinced. When he asked us to visit his centre in Malappuram after visiting two famous temples, we had no doubt. On reaching there, we were asked to strip and perform a nagna puja (nude ritual). But my daughter protested and we left the place,” says Nithya (name changed), a 39-year-old IT professional from Ernakulam.
While many States have laws criminalising certain practices, Kerala lacks a specific law to address fraudulent and exploitative activities related to superstition and sorcery. Around a decade back, former DGP A. Hemachandran had drafted a law against superstition and in 2019 the Kerala State Law Reforms Commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge K.T. Thomas, had submitted a draft law to eradicate such practices and create awareness. But no further action was taken.
“The draft Bill was prepared in the context of some incidents of black magic and exorcism and it mainly focussed on preventing exploitative practices. People had lost lives in three superstition-related cases at Karunagapally, Mavelikara, and Malappuram that time. They were all results of rituals conduced by healers and exorcists. Many sexual abuse cases were also reported and after 10 years the numbers have multiplied. In the absence of a specific law, we don’t have an instrument to expose the perpetrators,” says Hemachandran.
The draft Bill prepared by K.T. Thomas was not accepted by the State government and reportedly the authorities could not take a decision as there were many grey areas where superstitions and religious practices are almost analogous.
“I was told that the Act will be implemented soon, but nothing happened. When I enquired, they said all religions are superstitious and they will oppose it,” says the former judge.
Law Minister P. Rajeeve, when asked about the legislation, says several discussions have been held on the proposed Bill and it was decided to elicit public feedback. “Now the draft is with the Home department,” he says.
States such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha and Bihar have laws to protect individuals from exploitation and harm caused by irrational practices and superstitions.
“The Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad (KSSP) had submitted a draft Bill in 2014 to prevent crimes stemming from superstition. We have been consistently demanding its implementation for the past 11 years. We have no idea what prevents the government from implementing the law,” says P.V. Divakaran, KSSP general secretary.
With an alarming number of cases related to black magic and occult practices in society, the call for social awareness and a comprehensive legislation is getting louder.
Published – March 06, 2025 09:35 pm IST