Recently, a nine-year-old girl passed away while being beaten with a cane during an exorcism. The little girl’s mother firmly believed that her child was possessed by a demon, and felt the need to perform a local ritual that is said to drive away evil spirits.
The girl is said to have died in hospital after losing consciousness due to the severe beating she received during the exorcism.
It is reported that the mother had employed the services of a woman who was famously known around the area of Delgoda for offering exorcism services.
The Police have reported that the child’s mother and the women who performed the ritual have been arrested and appeared in court recently. Speaking to The Morning Brunch, Attorney-at-Law Aritha Wickramasinghe commented that the mother could potentially be charged for child abuse, and the witch doctor could also be charged for the same. The court may decide on charging the case under attempted murder, and the laws on child abuse in the country need to come into play for such a case. He also explained that there are no laws in the country that explicitly forbid the practice of rituals, as generally, there is no danger to one’s life, but in this situation, since the child actually died due to the negligence and abuse on the part of the mother, the law will apply.
The Morning Brunch spoke to a few experts regarding the matter on their thoughts.
Exorcists need to take science into account: Thiviya Kandiah
Sri Lanka is well known for the cultural rituals of ridding evil spirits. One could say that the idea of an exorcism offers hope of a better future and will bring about peace and prosperity once the “bad spirit” has been eradicated. These rituals are not meant to cause bodily harm to an individual, and are sometimes performed on a location to bring about good fortune.
Unfortunately, when performed on an individual, it is no walk in the park.
Traditionally, rituals have been studied from broad sociocultural perspectives, with little consideration for the psychological processes at play. Recently, however, psychologists have begun turning their attention to the study of ritual, uncovering the causal mechanisms driving this universal aspect of human behaviour. With growing interest in the psychology of ritual, psychologist Thivya Kandiah spoke about its effects on an individual.
She stated that this will have long-term effects on a human as it is quite a taxing ordeal. “I’m sure the child in question must have been extremely scared, as she had no idea what was happening.”
She also commented that an exorcism is a cultural belief that this ritual will heal a person, but with that said, she also added that the exorcists need to take science and do what is biologically accepted, since in the case of the little girl, she was physically abused.
“When we have a fever as a child, we may be taken to a church or temple, and have holy water dabbed on us, but we will also be taken to the doctor and receive adequate medication,” Kandiah said, explaining that there is no harm in believing in both culture and science, but without toeing the line.
Talking about the emotional benefits of cultural rituals, she said: “It’s also important to keep our beliefs because it’s part of faith and helps us make sense out of certain situations.”
Concluding, she added that sometimes people tend to blindly follow a miraculous cure, instead of looking at the scientific aspect, which seems to be what had happened in the unfortunate case of the little girl.
Rituals have gone far beyond what is acceptable: Dr. Harini Amarasuriya
Rituals tap into a lot of essential regions of our brain that are explicitly irrational. We, as a society, didn’t evolve to use pure logic to hold together communities and inspire decisions, which is where the hardcore belief in rituals comes in. One could argue that exorcism has become a religious commodity with the potential to strengthen a religion’s attraction to followers, whilst also ensuring its hold, which may be why certain individuals go to such lengths – like in the case of the nine-year-old girl – to ensure that it is carried out completely although the victim had long since passed out.
Anthropologist and rights activist Dr. Harini Amarasuriya observed that rituals exist in every society, but this particular case has gone far beyond what is acceptable. “I don’t think it’s just a case of a ritual gone wrong; over the past several years, there has been a commotion of non-scientific means of dealing with problems and issues that has become prevalent in society.”
She added that this has influenced the way people think, and people no longer come up with practical solutions to problems, but rather resort to these rituals with blind faith.
Dr. Amarasuriya also believes that there is a wider social issue of reversing or eradicating these rituals, pointing out this situation as a prime example. She further noted that despite the cultural heritage behind these rituals, it’s about time we look into actual solutions in terms of proven scientific means, rather than opt for superstitious methods that have no scientific backing.
