This week the deaths of 11 members of a family in Delhi's Burari has once again shifted the spotlight on occult practices and superstitious beliefs that continue to kill people across India. The Delhi police is investigating a theory that the family planned and executed a bizzare mass hanging as a thanks giving ritual to celebrate the engagement of one of the family members. According to investigations so far, one of the family members Lalit Chundawat, allegedly hallucinated about his dead father advising him on spiritual salvation and on various rituals to undertake for wealth and happiness, including this mass hanging where they would be saved, in the nick of time by the dead father's spirit. Surviving Chundawat family members have refuted this thread of the investigation. They say they are victims of media sensationalism but this hair raising case has lead us to ask: Can India get freedom from superstition? Does India needs a comprehensive national anti-superstition legislation to deal with crimes related to black magic, miracles and other occultist beliefs?
