New anti-superstition Bill proposes to ban 23 practices
Bengaluru: The draft Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifices and other Inhuman Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Bill-2016 is a modified version of the Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill-2013.
The new version of an anti-superstition Bill proposes to ban 23 practices, including human torture in the name of rituals and display of ‘miracles’ to earn money.
The draft Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifices and other Inhuman Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Bill-2016 is a modified version of the Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill-2013.
The copy of the Bill was circulated at the state Cabinet meeting on Friday.
The Bill will be debated in the next Cabinet meeting, too, and introduced in the ongoing legislature session, according to Law Minister T B Jayachandra.
The 2013 Bill had met with resistance from various quarters as it proposed to ban numerology, astrology among others, and was referred to the scrutiny committee for modification. The 2016 Bill is yet to be made public.
According to sources, it lists out practices which are proposed to be banned and those which will not apply under the provisions of the Bill. (See chart) Besides social evils like human sacrifice and Aghori, the Bill proposes to ban ‘made snana’, the practice of people rolling over leftovers after Brahmins have partaken food in temples; and fire-walking, the act of walking barefoot on redhot embers, which is a common practice in Karnataka.
Unhealthy rituals
Human sacrifice; propagation of human sacrifice
Practices like ‘made snana’, fire-walking, ‘banamati’, ‘bettale seve’
Torture in the name of exorcism
Display of miracles to earn money or terrorise people
Inhuman, evil and Aghori practices which endanger life
Practice of black magic in search of precious things
Creating fear in others by claiming to have supernatural powers
Creating panic by threatening to invoke ghosts
It won’t apply to…
Worship
Teaching of ancient and traditional learning
Performance of prayers
All religious celebrations
Piercing of ears, nose in accordance with religious rituals
Advice of ‘vastu shastra’, astrology and advice with regard to source of groundwater
What a joke!!! Religions, believing in imaginary gods and holy books are not superstition??? Dressing in funny costumes and gathering in beautiful buildings to pray to an imaginary entity is not superstition???? LOL LOL How can anyone take this seriously? How come there is no proposal to ban animal sacrifice in the name of religion? Well, it brings us to real agenda, doesn’t it? Why don’t they acknowledge the hidden agenda and change the name to ‘Anti-Sanaathana’ bill ? As part of ‘vote bank’ strategy, Congress party keeps trying to impress bigots in minority communities by intentionally picking on sanaathana… Read more »
“What a joke!!! Religions, believing in imaginary gods and holy books ‘are’ not superstition??? – Yumreeki Rampe on 9 Jul @. . 7:04 am “Mind you – this is the amount of tolerance shown to Sanaaaathaaana groups by practitioners of peace in a state of India.” – Yumreeki Rampa on the same day at 7:10 am So, “imaginary gods, religion, holy books” IS “superstition” – then one wants “tolerance”, eh? Arre baba.. IF your CONTRADICTORY (if NOT outright – Foot in the Mouth) statements are to be believed, WHERE is the question of “tolerance” between TWO groups of superstitionists? Man..… Read more »
Where exactly is the contradiction in expecting one group believing in religious superstition to be tolerant of another group believing in another religious superstition? Sure, given a choice, I would love to have a society based on humanist values, science and rational thinking. It’s not going to happen anytime soon. Meanwhile, this is the best solution we have. Is it so hard for your non-adult brain to process? How much beef did you have today? What a joker!!
“I would love to have a society based on HUMANIST values, science and rational thinking” – Yumreeki ThyampaNNA
Lol…. so one can have humanist values, rational thinking and YET speak like a barbarian… what was his name again…. some Shankara Prasaadaaa? Hmmmm…. very peaceful chap, eh? But then, one is as blinkered as you are, AND an atheist who ONLY happens to believe…who will reason out with you? Shivane balla! 😉 😉