RDo I look like a dakan?" asks Radha, all of 10, innocence writ large on her face. Four years ago she was branded a witch along with her mother Humli by her own father and his relatives. Their crime: the sudden death of 18-year-old Champa at the time of delivery. Champa's father Kadakiabhai, a tribal farmer in Kamboi village in Gujarat's Dahod district, was convinced that she and her newborn had been swallowed by a witch. So accompanied by close relatives Tejia and Jhokhna, he consulted a badwa (witchdoctor) who declared that Jhokhna's wife Humli had swallowed Champa and Radha, Champa's newborn.

"How can I go on like this?" HUMLI and her daughter RADHA, Kamboi, Dahod Four years ago, the hapless duo were branded witches and almost killed by Humli's husband and others for having "swallowed" his relative Champa and her newborn

Among those who came with dharias (a sharp, curved weapon) and rods to kill Humli soon after the badwa's pronouncement was her husband. But Humli fled with Radha to her brother Naval Singh's house in nearby Khadda village. Singh lodged a police complaint following which her in-laws took Humli back but not before they were paid Rs 3,000 "as a price". However, in October last year Humli and Radha were again condemned as witches by her in-laws and driven out. Asks a distraught Humli: "How can I go on like this? They accepted me back in the family under police pressure but the suspicion that I was a witch never left their minds."

In the tribal heartland of central Gujarat running through Vadodara, Panchmahal and Dahod districts and bordering Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the word "dakan" holds sway over an unlettered and superstitious community. It is a loathsome word spat out by scheming witchdoctors on hundreds of unsuspecting women every year. Sometimes it is blind belief in witchcraft but often it is greed-either to exact revenge over disputes or simply to usurp property-that makes cunning relatives connive with witchdoctors and target hapless women. Once branded dakans, the women are thrashed, harassed, abandoned, made to pay a heavy fine, even killed.

In Daruniya village near Godhra last year Dahiben Laxman Nayak, a poor tribal woman, was killed by Kanti and Mohan, the sons of her husband's brother Shana. It all happened after Shana's family members suddenly became ill. Instead of going to a doctor they went to a badwa who told them that Dahiben had cast an evil eye on their family. She was hacked to death by the duo. After a police inquiry, they were recently convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. This was one of the first cases in which the police did a professional job. Instead of letting the tribal panchayat handle such cases, as is the practice, this one was followed up by the police. Says Laxman: "My brother's family was jealous of me because my father had given me more land. He took his revenge in this ugly manner."

"This business of witchcraft is being carried to ludicrous limits." CHOKHLI BHURIA (right), and her sister-in-law BHURI and MANGLI, Devdhi, Dahod The three women were targeed by their brother-in-law after the death of his son and had to flee their village

Strangely, the tribal panch (body of tribal leaders that settle disputes within the community) often takes sides with those who target the helpless women. As Chokhli Bhuria of Devdhi village in Dahod says, "This business of witchcraft is being carried to ludicrous limits." Along with two of her sisters-in-law Bhuri and Mangli, she was named a witch by one of her husband's brothers, Pratap, who lost his 12-year-old son to a mysterious illness. When the women and their husbands refused to comply with Pratap's demand for Rs 1 lakh as compensation, they were attacked and forced to take refuge in social worker Kanubhai Brahmbhatt's house for three months. Vadodara-based Brahmbhatt has been fighting the evil practice for the past many years.

Surprisingly, even the educated among the tribals are not free of such beliefs. Says Ranjitsinh, a graduate: "Some of the badwas might be schemers but there are definitely others who have the blessings of the Goddess and have the power to find solutions to problems." And so in this poverty-ridden region, the badwas thrive. Theirs is a well-entrenched network. The local badwa, who is usually an agent of the bigger badwas based in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, refrains from naming the witches to avoid retribution at a later stage. Instead he directs those who come to him to the bigger badwa who is already informed about the family and the names of the women to be declared sorceresses.

"I only give herbs when people come to me for treatment of their ailments." MANA BARIA , Vaghai, Madhya Pradesh A prosperous witchdoctor who earns at least Rs 1 lakh per month, he is said to have condemned several women as witches

Mana Baria, a feared badwa who lives in a mansion in Vaghai village of Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh, is a picture of prosperity. He has three phone lines in his mansion and a dish antenna in a village that doesn't even have a pucca road. According to Brahmbhatt, Baria has condemned the highest number of tribal women as witches in the bordering districts of Gujarat. The shrewd Baria-he allegedly charges Rs 5,000 per case besides liquor and chicken for tracking witches-denies he has branded anyone a witch. Says the 55-year-old: "I only give herbs when people come to me for treatment of their ailments." Some of the badwas reportedly earn over Rs 1 lakh per month from their practice.

Says Mayank Jain, superintendent of police, Jhabua: "We will take action against witchdoctors if their involvement is brought to our notice." It is easier said than done for so deep-rooted is witchcraft that it can't be wished away. Brahmbhatt says only tough laws can prevent the crime. Urvashidevi, bjp leader and princess of Baria in Dahod, says, "Bihar has an anti-witchcraft law. Gujarat too can think along the same lines." If not, the evil custom will continue to "swallow" more such innocent tribal women.