How a ‘personal enmity’ led to accusation of black magic, social boycott of family in Gujarat village for six months

The matter was resolved after the boycotted family approached Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha whose members, along with the police, visited the village in Surendranagar district earlier this month

By: Express News Service

Ahmedabad | Updated: October 7, 2025 12:18 PM IST

3 min read

Inspector Parmar confirmed to <em>The Indian Express</em> that all three members of the Parmar family were detained and then let go of with a warning. (Express Photo)

For the last six months, this family of five people in a small village in Gujarat’s Surendranagar district had been living under social boycott.

It started when a couple in Kabran village in Chotila taluka accused the head of the family, Hamir Natha Chavda, and his wife of practising black magic on them and casting an “evil eye”. For good measure, Samat Devshi Parmar and his wife Hemu had shown themselves to be “in a trance” which, they claimed, was brought about by the Chavdas.

Following intervention by an NGO fighting superstition, police investigated the matter earlier this month. Soon, truth emerged: The Parmars had faked the story of “being possessed by a deity” to get back at Hamir and his wife over a personal enmity.

Hamir said he and his wife were falsely accused of being practitioners of black magic and cursing others with “the evil eye”. He said he and his wife were accused of being Daakana (warlock) and Daakan (witch), respectively, which led to the family’s social boycott. At their wits’ end, the Chavda family, following the advice of a well-wisher, decided to seek the help of Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha, an NGO that works to dispel superstition in Gujarat.

Jayant Pandya, who leads the NGO, wrote to the police seeking protection. With the help of personnel from Nani Moldi police station, a team from the NGO went to Kabran, a small village on the border with Rajkot district, on Friday (October 3). They confronted Parmar and his wife who confessed to have concocted the story, said police.

Pandya told The Indian Express, “We asked the Parmars to produce proof that the Chavda family were engaged in black magic. All the elders of the village were also present there. Not only could they not produce proof of their allegations, they also confessed that the charges were false.”

Parmar, his wife and son Arun were taken to Nani Moldi police station where they were further questioned by Inspector NS Parmar. The family then agreed to sign an affidavit stating they had made the false allegations since they had “personal problems” with the Chavda family.

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Inspector Parmar confirmed to The Indian Express that all three members of the Parmar family were detained and then let go of with a warning. The Chavda family, meanwhile, has declined to file a complaint in the interest of “peace” in the village.

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