BALI - The story behind

I remember we were watching a TV serial, which showed about Human sacrifice in the name of giving ‘Bali’ to Goddess. I was shocked to see that, with lots of questions in my mind. I was wondering how can it be possible, how can people be so ruthless, and practice callousness. Giving sacrifice of a person is an act which kills the spirit of humanity. I was thinking may be it existed in earlier times, when people were not aware and were fooled in the name of Religion and showing it in a TV show at this period of time was just a matter of increasing TRP of the show. I expressed my feelings to my Dad. He was listening to me profoundly. I stopped, he started-“The purpose of showing this is not just a trick of TV channel to increase their TRP. Because these things still exist in our country. Often educated people fool the uneducated and less aware people by practicing such things in order to lure the people in the name of religion. They entice people by saying that if they would do something for their god, the god will become fond of them and fulfill all their wishes.” He was about to open his mouth to speak but suddenly I said-“But does this type of thing still exist somewhere, in our country. I haven’t heard about such things so far.” He determinedly said-“Yes, they do exist in our country. You haven’t heard about such incidents because people who are involved in these activities execute them so secretly that they do not get in notice of other citizens, even the authorities are not aware about it. It’s actually illegal, because human sacrifice in the name of religion and other such activities have been declared illegal by the government. It has been abolished, but actually not.” He told me that he has witnessed one such incident. He said it was 2002; he was posted as Staff Correspondent in Hindustan Times, at Mandi.

 He said that he got some information about some blind faith practices taking place in a remote village of Mandi. In that village, a young pregnant woman was reportedly forced by her in-laws to prove her chastity before “the Goddess” by holding a pair of heated tongs in her hands. The in-laws tried to sacrifice the 19 year old, for refusing to give in to the sexual overtures of her father-in-law and brother-in-law. Narrating her tale, Dad told me that after a few months of her marriage, her father-in-law and her brother-in-law tried to establish illicit relations with her. She complained to her mother-in-law and her husband about their persistent behavior but both of them gave a deaf ear to her. Having no note of her complaints to them, she reported the matter to her father. Then the matter was brought up in the panchayat, where her father and brother-in-law pleaded guilty and sought pardon, assuring the panchayat that they would never repeat the act.

But they didn’t stop the harassment, with trying to coerce her into the act in the name of “the goddess”. They created a place of worship in their house, hanging pictures of a Goddess and a few daggers. They started proclaiming that they had come under spell of goddess. The harassment was meted out in connivance with her husband and mother-in-law. She was asked to go into the worship room as the goddess had arrived. They blamed her for the plight of her father and brother in law. They said the goddess now demanded a sacrifice. This was followed by a severe beating in which even the child in her womb was hurt. Scared for her life, the girl managed to escape and reach her parent’s house somehow. The matter was again brought up in the panchayat where her in-laws accepting that the goddess demanded sacrifice, pleading guilty and once again, seeking pardons for their follies. The girl’s father could not report the matter to the police as the panchayat members refused to provide him papers of panchayat proceedings, even after a long round of requests. Answering to this, the panchayat member said that the in-laws of girl had accepted all the follies committed by them, but avoided to report the matter to police as those people, being poor, would not be able to afford legal expenses.

 I was taken aback, hearing this. They did an unpardonable crime and the panchayat refused to give papers just, the convicts were poor (Are you kidding me?). Where is it written that if the criminals are poor then there will be no proceeding against them? I asked Dad-“Then what? They were left free to spoil the life of some other girl? They were not punished for doing a solemn crime?”

My dad said-“No, they were punished for what they did. You might have heard with a pen, you can shake the world. As this new was published in the newspaper, all the authorities came in action. A case was registered against the convicts and it became an issue of debate as it was published on the front page. They got punishment for what they did. Had I not gone there, the in-laws of girl would be still living in peace.”

There was a smile on his face, of satisfaction as he had helped someone to get justice. I was happy to see that and reminisced my dream of becoming a journalist, as a child.