Gujarat’s Dang district, concealed in the superstitions of witchcraft and sorcery, is brutal for uneducated women from weak economic backgrounds. Situated in the South-Eastern part of Gujarat and dominated by tribes like Godhvi, Daher, Amala, Pimpri and Vasuna, Dang, hides the stories of many innocent tribal women who faced witchcraft accusations and were murdered due to the same.
In a recent case of 2021, Tanki Rawat from Dang murdered her mother-in-law and claimed that she practised witchcraft due to which her health was deteriorating. In a similar case, a man suffering from cancer was told that her wife, a witch, was the reason behind his bad health. Later, his family members beat the woman to death. Unfortunately, these are documented cases.
Over the last few years, thousands of such cases have come up and thousands shut down in which women were ostracized and isolated on the charge of witchcraft. In many cases, the tribes publicly beat the women and feed them chillies. Another sad fact about this culture is that the last case does not date back to the 60s, but to June 2022.
Sachin Dheeraj Mudigonda’s short film documentary ‘Testimony of Ana’ made its name on the nomination list for the 68th National Film Awards, 2020. The film, set in the backdrop of the Dang district in Gujarat, is in the Dangi language. It depicts the life of a woman living in Dang, a rural area of Gujarat on the Western Coast of India.
Testimony of Ana’s first screening was at the 13th International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK) in December 2021.
The documentary is a protracted monologue by Anaben Pawar, labelled a witch by Gujarati tribal locals a few years ago. Further, it becomes clear from her account that the offenders, interested in her property, which her father had left her, branded her a witch. They also tried to expel her from the community and even attempted to murder her.
But, Anaben, made of much sterner stuff, decided to stand up, resist and fight back. The camera follows her as she describes the ordeal while glimpsing the village, and its pleasant green surroundings, which conceal the darkness lying beneath. Initially appears reluctant to speak, Anaben begins to discuss the seriousness of the crime the people committed.
One night, the locals hired a ‘witch-hunter.’ Then, they broke into her home and brutally beat her after calling her a witch repeatedly. Anaben saved a cloth bag that consisted of broken pieces of rings and bangles she wore the night of her assault. She had held them as evidence of the assault. However, she is among the few who fight back and survive this torture because many don’t.
Later, the cops arrested four men involved in the attack. In the documentary, the brave Anaben sings a song in her regional dialect that translates as:
grow up and run away, granddaughter,
probably not telling the child to flee
but to get educated
and find a better life outside the village
Read in Gujarati: ડાંગ જિલ્લાની પૃષ્ઠભૂમિમાં બનેલી ‘ટેસ્ટીમની ઓફ અના” જીતી બેસ્ટ નોન-ફિચર ફિલ્મ એવોર્ડ
