No mumbo-jumbo: IT City believes in it!

Bengaluru: The sacrifice of a 10-year-old girl in a black magic ritual in Magadi of Ramangar district is shocking. But even more disturbing is the fact that it is not an isolated incident and black magic rituals are prevalent in and around the city in the absence of stringent laws to prevent such practices.

Many who believe in black magic approach tantriks to settle personal scores and property disputes, lure their loved ones and, in the latest incident, find a cure for an ailment. On the flipside, many also approach astrologers seeking remedy believing that someone has cast a spell on them.

When Deccan Chronicle contacted an astrologer on CMH Road, who also lifts black magic spells cast on people, he said, “Everyday, I have visitors who think that they are affected by black magic. The common complaints are severe health problems, financial issues, losing jobs and losing interest in life. Most of the people who approach me seeking remedy from black magic are from West Bengal.”

Another astrologer in Rajajinagar admitted that it’s difficult to convince people that they are not victims of black magic. “They approach us thinking that they are affected. Even if we try to convince them, they don’t trust us. Just for their solace, we perform some rituals and they feel good. After all it’s our business and we can’t reveal much about it.”

Though such practices are going on in and around the IT City, the police say they don’t anything to do with them. “Very rarely do people come to us complaining about black magic. But even then, we cannot do much as there is no law to control such practices. Generally, people who believe in such mumbo-jumbo approach tantriks to get rid of their problems,” a senior police officer said.

Even in the case of human sacrifice in Magadi, the police have booked the accused for murder and no charges related to black magic have been slapped against them, as there is no such section in the Indian Penal Code. Ramanagar SP Ramesh B. told Deccan Chronicle that there are no special provision to book sorcerers. “As per the procedure, we have invoked Section 302 for murdering the girl and 201 for causing disappearance of evidence of offence (the girl’s body in this case) of the IPC.”

Asked whether there was a rise in such a trend, Mr Ramesh, who also worked as SP Bengaluru Rural earlier, said, “We cannot claim that there is no rise in registration of such cases. Human sacrifice is very rare, but in rural areas people perform some rituals even when some family members fall sick. We (police) can only act when there are extreme situations, like in the case of the 11-year-old girl.”