In Kenya, Is Witchcraft Prohibited?

The Witchcraft Act in Kenya (Chapter 67) protects the public against acts of a person practising witchcraft. However, the Act appears to contribute more confusion than assistance, as it seems to deny the existence of witchcraft while at the same time promoting cultural practices and legal perspectives. The belief in witchcraft persists in some communities, influencing cultural practices and legal perspectives.

The Witchcraft Act, Chapter 67 Laws of Kenya, Article 3 states that any person professing knowledge of witchcraft or the use of charms, who advises any person, is guilty of an offense and liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred shillings or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years. In Kenya, one elderly person is murdered along the Kilifi coast every week in the name of witchcraft.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights conducted a fact-finding mission in Kisii, Kenya in October 2021 following the lynching of four elderly and poor women on the island. Witchcraft in Kenya is a criminal offence based on an outdated colonial statute, but times have progressed and the world has become more open and accepting of witchcraft. Section 6 of the Witchcraft Act, 19257 provides that any person who accuses or threatens to accuse any person of being a witch or with practicing witchcraft is guilty of an offense and liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

A Kenyan coastal region has seen a spate of murders, supposedly over witchcraft but really over land. The ex-con, illegal guns, and fear of witchcraft are cited as reasons for the murders. Nyamira Witchcrafty is a crime, going against section 2 of the Witchcraft Act (Cap 67 Laws of Kenya).

Is witchcraft illegal in Uganda?

The 1995 Ugandan Constitution guarantees human rights, including freedoms of religion, expression, and association. However, a law, first enacted during the colonial period, criminalizes certain aspects of African traditional religion as witchcraft. Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. Members of an institution can access content through IP-based access, which is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. Alternatively, users can sign in through their institution, using Shibboleth/Open Athens technology to provide single sign-on between their institution’s website and Oxford Academic.

Is witchcraft legal in South Africa?

The Witchcraft Suppression Act 3 of 1957 is a South African legislation that prohibits activities related to witchcraft, witch smelling, or witch-hunting. It is based on the Witchcraft Suppression Act 1895 of the Cape Colony and the Witchcraft Act 1735 of Great Britain. The most serious crimes under the act include imputing to another person the cause of any disease, injury, or damage, or naming another person as a wizard.

The act also prohibits the accused from using supernatural powers, witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration, imputing the cause of death, injury, grief, disease, damage, or disappearance of any person or thing to another person.

Is there witchcraft in Kenya?

In Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa, belief in witchcraft and superstition is used to justify killing elderly people to take their land. A report by Kenyan human rights organisation Haki Yetu states that one elderly person is murdered along the Kilifi coast every week in the name of witchcraft. Many families believe it is one of their own who orders the killing, as it will gain public sympathy and make people believe they killed the person.

What is the crime of witchcraft in India?

Since its inception in 1953, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has served as a dependable repository of criminal data in India. Its records encompass a category on “motives for murder” and witchcraft, with 85 documented cases of murder in 2022.

What is witchcraft called in India?

Witchcraft in Indian films and literature is deeply rooted in Vedic Hindu religion, with Tantra Sadhna, a pre-Vedic tradition, often associated with women. Tantriks and Tantrikas, followers of Tantra, are often dubbed as “witches”. In a video, an elderly woman is seen blackened and a shoe garland around her neck, forced to run in front of a deity’s chariot. Villagers play traditional instruments and chant the deity’s name, calling her a tantric and cursing her.

She is alleged to worship “Mashaan” and pleading for mercy. In her village, a temple with no permanent priest has been exploited, leading to some people acting as agents of the deity and branding the elderly woman as a “Dayan” and instigating the villagers.

Is witch hunting illegal in India?

Witch-hunting has been a topic of debate in India, with attempts to create legislation to prevent and eliminate the practice at national and state levels. In 2001, Jharkhand enacted The Prevention of Witch (Daain) Practices Act to criminalize rituals performed by witch doctors believed to identify and cure witches. In 2021, the state government launched Project Garima, aiming to empower victims by providing counseling, job skills training, and livelihood opportunities.

Currently, six states in India have specific laws targeting witch-hunting, while Maharashtra and Karnataka have legislation broadly covering witch-hunting and other superstitions. However, the effectiveness of these laws has been questioned due to the majority being state-level and the Central Government of India not passing specific legislation relating to the practice. The Prevention of Witch-Hunting Bill introduced by Raghav Lakhanpal to Parliament in 2016 is one of the only attempts to stop this crime at a federal level.

The implementation of these laws is poor, with only 2% of perpetrators convicted and most cases not documented due to difficulties for poor and illiterate women to travel from isolated regions to file police reports. Campaigners argue for social solutions targeting superstition and irrationality in communities, supporting victims, and addressing the root causes of the problem, rather than a strictly legal approach to eliminate witch-hunting.

Where is witchcraft most common?

Witches are believed to use body parts, such as hair, nail clippings, clothing, or bodily waste, to work magic against their victims. This belief is prevalent in various cultures, including Europe, Africa, South Asia, Polynesia, Melanesia, and North America. Indigenous peoples in Africa and North America also believe that witches cause harm by introducing cursed magical objects into their victims’ bodies. In some cultures, witches are believed to use human body parts in magic, and they are often believed to murder children for this purpose.

Witches work in secret, sometimes alone or with other witches. They are believed to gather at night, when normal humans are inactive and vulnerable, and engage in cannibalism, incest, and open nudity. This type of magic is considered imitative and often involves murdering children due to postpartum psychosis.

Is witchcraft illegal in the UK?

The Witchcraft Act 1735, passed in 1692, remained in effect in Britain until its repeal in 1951 with the Fraudulent Mediums Act. The Act was replaced by new Consumer Protection Regulations in 2008, following an EU directive on unfair sales and marketing practices. The Witchcraft Suppression Act, 1957, in South Africa, is still in effect and is based on the Witchcraft Act 1735. The Fraudulent Mediums Act was repealed in 2008 by new Consumer Protection Regulations.

Where does the Bible talk about witchcraft?

Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:26, Leviticus 20:27, and Deuteronomy 18:10-11 all prohibit the practice of necromancy, divination, and soothsaying. These laws are portrayed as foreign and are the only part of the Hebrew Bible to mention such practices. The presence of laws forbidding necromancy proves that it was practiced throughout Israel’s history.

The exact difference between the three forbidden forms of necromancy mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:11 is uncertain, as yidde’oni (“wizard”) is always used together with ob (“consulter with familiar spirits”) and its semantic similarity to doresh el ha-metim (“necromancer” or “one who directs inquiries to the dead”) raises the question of why all three are mentioned in the same verse. The Jewish tractate Sanhedrin distinguishes between a doresh el ha-metim, a person who would sleep in a cemetery after starving himself, to become possessed, and a yidde’oni, a wizard.

In summary, the prohibition of necromancy in the Hebrew Bible is a significant aspect of Jewish history.

What are the Witchcraft Act laws of kenya?

An individual who professes to be a witchdoctor or purports to utilize supernatural abilities, such as witchcraft, sorcery, or enchantment, with the intention of instilling fear, annoyance, or injury in others, or who falsely claims to possess such abilities, is deemed to have committed an offense.

What are the accusations of witchcraft in Kenya?

Section 6 of the Witchcraft Act, 1925, stipulates that any individual who makes an accusation or threat of accusation pertaining to witchcraft is deemed to have committed an offense and may be subject to a fine of up to five hundred shillings or imprisonment for a period of up to five years.