The government’s sudden decision to form another expert committee, despite the existence of a comprehensive draft in the form of the Kerala Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery and Black Magic Bill, 2019, has drawn sharp criticism.
Published Nov 18, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Nov 18, 2025 | 9:00 AM
Kerala’s attempts at anti-black magic legislation date back nearly a decade.
Synopsis: The ruling LDF in Kerala has decided to form another expert committee to assess the social, legal and constitutional dimensions of legislation to curb black magic and superstitious practices, reviving long-standing questions about its political will to address the issue. The move comes after years of shifting official positions and repeated court interventions, even as the state continues to witness disturbing incidents ranging from assaults to alleged ritual killings.
Kerala may pride itself on its progressive sheen, but when it comes to confronting the dark world of superstition and occult exploitation, the state is still shadow-boxing.
Alleged black magic rituals continue to inflict physical and psychological abuse, fuel fraud and at times claim lives. The latest being an incident at Manarcad in Kottayam in which a woman was assaulted during an exorcism. Yet the government has once again hit the pause button on a law intended to outlaw such practices.
Months after shelving its earlier draft law, the government has now appointed another expert committee to prepare a fresh draft Bill, reviving old questions about its political will to tackle the issue.
After months of ambiguity, the LDF government informed the Kerala High Court in early November that it would clarify its position on bringing in legislation to curb black magic and superstitious practices within a week.
Then, on 12 November came the decision on forming an expert committee, signalling a procedural reboot rather than a decisive legal step.
According to Home Secretary Bishwanath Sinha, the formation of an expert committee is as per the advice given by the Advocate General to the state government on 31 October. The advice was to “set up an expert committee to study all aspects and prepare a draft bill.”
Acting on this, the government constituted a three-member committee comprising:
The committee’s mandate is broad: assess the social, legal and constitutional dimensions of such a law; study similar legislation in other states; and evaluate the earlier draft prepared in 2019 based on the Law Reforms Commission report.
Their recommendations are expected to shape a new draft bill for government consideration.
The latest attempt to curb black magic, sorcery and other inhuman practices began when the Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham approached the High Court through a PIL in 2022, urging the state to introduce a long-pending law recommended by the KT Thomas-led Law Reforms Commission.
The Commission had, as early as 2019, proposed the Kerala Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery and Black Magic Bill, yet the government made no visible attempt to implement it.
In June this year, the state filed an affidavit before the High Court stating unequivocally that it would not proceed with the legislation, citing a Cabinet policy decision taken in July 2023.
It also took the stance that the courts cannot compel the legislature to enact a law, stressing that a writ of mandamus cannot lie against legislative prerogatives.
This categorical stand prompted the High Court to seek clarity: if no law is under consideration, what steps does the state intend to take to curb sorcery and black magic, especially when the social harm is well documented and the Commission’s report remains unimplemented?
In July, the state claimed that legislation was indeed under consideration, only delayed due to “legal complexities.”
Then, in the first week of November, the government took another turn, informing the court that it would clarify its final stance within a week after examining the Advocate General’s advice.
By mid-November, it shifted again, stating that the issue required deeper study, wider expert consultations, comparative evaluation of laws in other states and an assessment of existing provisions in the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Kerala Police Act.
The result is a legislative limbo that continues to raise questions about intent, priority and consistency.
The state government’s sudden decision to form another committee, despite the existence of a comprehensive draft, has triggered sharp criticism.
Legal experts and social observers have accused the LDF of dragging its feet on a matter of urgent public interest, questioning why a new panel is needed when a structured, consultative draft has been gathering dust for years.
Further, the newly announced committee has not been given a deadline, fuelling fears that the exercise is merely a bureaucratic detour intended to push aside an uncomfortable political decision indefinitely.
A legislation that directly touches faith, superstition, ritual and community practices is inherently sensitive. Observers say the ruling front appears wary of potential backlash from sections of society who may perceive such a law as an intrusion into personal or religious belief systems.
Former Director General of Prosecution T Asaf Ali minced no words in criticising the government’s stance.
“I can’t figure out what the state government wants to study on this. Several states have enacted legislation against this social evil. But our state, due to some dubious reasons, drags its feet,” he told South First.
“Kerala is one of the most victimised states when it comes to black magic and occult practices. These are nothing but cloaks to commit organised crime. In a progressive state like ours, a legislation of this kind should have come much earlier,” he added.
Ali accused the government of “criminal negligence” for its failure to act decisively.
“Each time a victim of black magic emerges, the need for legislation is discussed, and then it soon falls into oblivion,” he said.
“Legally, nothing stops the government from legislating. The only requirement is that the law must not violate constitutional rights. But this is a fraudulent act that even threatens the right to life. The government’s duty is to protect the lives, liberty and assets of its citizens, and by not legislating, they’re failing in that duty,” he observed.
He added that there is no fiscal burden attached to such legislation, calling the state’s “dilly-dallying” both inexplicable and condemnable.
The government’s choice to revisit an already completed process instead of pushing the 2019 draft forward is now being widely interpreted as reluctance to take a firm stand on a socially and politically contentious issue, one that continues to cost lives and facilitate criminal activity under the guise of belief.
The Kerala Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery and Black Magic Bill, 2019, aimed to protect citizens by criminalising a wide spectrum of inhuman practices amid a growing number of disturbing incidents in which vulnerable people were abused, defrauded, assaulted or psychologically terrorised by self-styled godmen and occult practitioners.
The bill
It defined offences ranging from performing sorcery, black magic and “magic remedies” to parading people naked, preventing them from accessing medical care, assaulting individuals under the pretext of exorcism and subjecting women to humiliating rituals.
The legislation also targeted practices such as tying people with chains, burning them with heated objects, forcing sexual acts under claims of divine incarnation, segregating menstruating or postpartum women, killing animals as part of rituals and creating public panic by claiming possession or invoking spirits.
Even acts like stone pelting in the name of kuttichathan, polluting food or water through claimed supernatural influence or promising motherhood through “divine powers” were brought under its ambit.
The bill made all offences cognisable and non-bailable, prescribing imprisonment of one to seven years and fines ranging from ₹5,000 to ₹50,000.
Its objective was twofold: to build social awareness that challenges superstition, and to back it with stringent legal deterrence.
In essence, the 2019 bill represented Kerala’s attempt to safeguard its social fabric from abuse masked as mysticism and to ensure that no individual falls prey to fear, exploitation or inhuman practices conducted in the name of the supernatural.
But the bill remains in cold storage, its intent frozen while the problems it sought to confront continue to burn.
Kerala’s attempts at anti-black magic legislation date back nearly a decade, gaining strength each time a scattered but chilling incident occurs, only to lose steam soon after.
The first spark was struck in 2014, when then DGP A Hemachandran was asked to draft a bill by the state government. It never saw the light of day, but it planted the seed.
The debate truly entered the legislative arena in 2019. In a charged Assembly session, Congress MLA and outspoken rationalist PT Thomas tabled the “Kerala Prevention of Black Magic and Superstitious Practices Bill.” The motion was opposed by the Minister for Local Self Governments on behalf of the Chief Minister.
Even then, momentum remained sluggish until 2019, when a spate of gruesome, superstitiously motivated crimes shocked the state.
Confronted with mounting public anger, the LDF government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan constituted a high-powered committee chaired by retired Supreme Court Justice KT Thomas. The panel produced the “Kerala Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices, Sorcery and Black Magic Bill, 2019,” a comprehensive draft many believed was finally poised to become law.
What followed, however, was bureaucratic inertia. The draft languished in files, overshadowed by political priorities and departmental disagreements. Years slipped by.
Then came the breaking point. In October 2022, the Elanthoor human sacrifice case in Pathanamthitta shattered Kerala’s collective conscience.
Two women were abducted, brutally murdered and dismembered as part of a supposed “prosperity ritual.” The accused, including a self-styled sorcerer, calmly confessed to offering human body parts to appease deities. The grotesque details dominated national headlines and pierced Kerala’s self-image as a rationalist society.
The outrage pushed civil society into action. The Kerala Yukthi Sangham (KYS) moved the High Court with a public interest litigation, demanding immediate enactment of the long-pending law to curb such inhuman practices. Their plea forced the state to respond, reopening a debate that had been allowed to go dormant for far too long.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
