Plea before Kerala High Court seeks law against black magic, witchcraft; action against movies, serials promoting superstition, occult

A petition was filed before the Kerala High Court last week by the Kerala Yukthi Vadi Sanghom seeking directions to the State government to enact law to curb superstitious practices like sorcery and black magic [Kerala Yukthi Vadi Sanghom v Union of India and others]..The petition also sought action against makers of movies and serials aired on television and over the top (OTT) platforms promoting superstitious beliefs including sorcery and occult. The plea came to be filed in light of the recent incident of human sacrifice in the State in which two women were killed and their bodies dismembered. The petitioner a registered cultural organization, which bats for rationalism, humanism, scientific temper and spirit of inquiry, is a member of the Federation of the Indian Rationalist Associations and also the Federation of the International Rationalist Associations..The plea said that the State is continuously witnessing crimes in connection with superstitious beliefs and these incidents are very rampant though only some get reported.“It has come to light several cases of human sacrifices and other types of assaults in connection with the superstitious belief of black magic and witchcraft. For the purpose of god’s grace, financial gains, getting jobs, resolving family problems, the birth of children, and for several other desires, some people are practicing black magic and witchcraft of which people belong to the downtrodden, and the children and women are mostly the victims,” the petition stated..The petitioner highlighted various reports of similar incidents that occurred in the State from 1955 to 2022.The plea said that no government has paid any attention to the issue so far though the petitioner organization had several times approached the government both at the Center and at the State, preferred several mass petitions, and submitted model bills for the statute, seeking an adequate enactment of a law to combat and eradicate human sacrifice and other inhuman, evil and sinister practices. Pertinently, the petitioner claimed that there are many films, telefilms, and advertisements on television, YouTube and OTT platforms having content showing superstitious practices like black magic, occult etc. which prompt people to indulge in such activities often leading to crimes..The petitioner submitted that though some bills were introduced in the State legislative assembly to tackle the issue, none became law. In light of the above, the plea sought directions in the nature of a "reminder" to the State government to enact a law prohibiting the practice of black magic, witchcraft or sorcery and other inhuman, evil and sinister practices.The plea also sought directions to consider and take a decision on the recommendation of the Law Reforms Commission report of 2019, submitted by Justice KT Thomas with regard to the enactment of The Kerala Prevention of Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery and Black Magic Bill, 2019.Importantly, the plea sought directions to take action against producers, directors, writers and actors of movies, serials and telefilms on big screens, TV and online platforms promoting superstitious beliefs including sorcery and occult.The petitioner further prayed that advertisement of books with regard to black magic on internet sites be declared illegal.The petitioner is represented by advocate P V Jeevesh..The case is slated to be heard today by a bench headed by Chief Justice S Manikumar.