Ranchi, Jul 6 (PTI) Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Rahul Kumar Sinha on Thursday flagged off an awareness chariot to eradicate witchcraft practices.

The chariot, which is being taken out on the direction of the Department of Women, child development and social security, will visit every block of the district, major intersections and rural markets and spread awareness through audio messages, an official said.

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"People will be given information about Witchcraft Act 2001 in a bid to root out its practices from remote areas of the district," he said.

Sinha said that witchcraft could be eliminated with mutual cooperation and awareness. He appealed to the people to inform about any case related to witchcraft to the nearest police station.

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Murder on suspicion of witchcraft has been a major issue in Jharkhand.

An analysis of NCRB's data suggests that a total of 593 people, mostly women, were killed on allegations of practising witchcraft between 2001 and 2021 in the state.

The state registered the highest number of 54 witch-hunting murders in 2013, 52 in 2008 and 50 in 2007.

Witchcraft murder cases started declining after 2014 when 47 people were killed. Thirty-two people were killed in 2015, 27 in 2016, 19 in 2017, 18 in 2018, 15 each in 2019 and 2020 and 3 in 2021.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)