The Kannur Police has arrested 35-year-old faith healer Muhammad Uwais after an 11-year-old girl died at his healing centre. As per a report in Manorama, she was forced to keep fast and recite verses of the Quran during the process. Kannur City is a densely populated neighbourhood under the Arakkal and Ayikkara divisions of the Kannur corporation.
The victim developed a fever on October 26. Her father, Abdul Sathar, is highly influenced by Uwais. He rushed her daughter to Uwais for treatment. Uwais, who often warns his followers, says, “Doctors are devils. Hospitals are hells. If you die in a hospital, you will not go to Heaven. So you should never visit hospitals.” He began the healing process that went for five days.
On October 31, her condition deteriorated, and his father took her to a private hospital, where she died. The paternal uncle of the deceased girl filed a complaint at the police station to inquire about the unnatural death of the girl. The post-mortem revealed that she died of infection, fever and anaemia.
Based on the complaint and post-mortem report, the Police took Uwais and Sathar into custody. During interrogation, Sathar told the Police that Uwais directed him not to take the girl to the hospital. Interestingly, Uwais stuck to his viewpoint and told the Police that there was no need to take the girl to the hospital. He denied sorcery acts but told the Police that he served ‘Quran-infused’ water to those who visit his centre that he runs from his house.
Police have filed a case against both with culpable homicide not amounting to murder (Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code) and punishment to cruelty to child (Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice Act). The court has sent them to Police custody till November 17.
Multiple deaths in mysterious circumstances linked to Uwais
Uwais was living a trouble-free life with a huge cult following for the past eight years. Since the case made to headlines, four more deaths linked to Uwais have emerged. In December 2014, 75-year-old Safiya had died under mysterious circumstances. Reportedly, she was facing breathing difficulties and taking allopathic medicines. Uwais convinced her to stop taking the medicines that led to her death.
Her 53-year-old son Ashraf had died in August 2016. Her 67-year-old sister Nafeesu died in April 2017. Another man, 57-year-old Anwar, died in May 2018. Nafeesu’s son, Siraj Padikkal, has been trying to pursue Police to investigate these deaths, but no one paid heed to his requests. Notably, Siraj and Uwais used to live in the same house, but Siraj left after falling out with the family because he was not in favour of the occult practices.
Siraj said, “I had filed a complaint with the Police after my mother’s unnatural death. But the Police neither registered a first information report nor conducted a post-mortem. The callous approach helped the culprits go scot-free. It is time to re-investigate all the mysterious deaths.” Siraj told Manorama that her mother was under allopathy treatment after she broke her leg. In 2017 Uwais made her stop the treatment, after which her condition got worse, leading to her death.
A nexus of faith healers
Unfortunately, he is not the only faith healer in Kannur City. There are many others, and the death of the 11-year-old girl opened Pandora’s box of faith healing practitioners in the area. In just 1 square km area, Uwais, his mother and another woman practice faith healing.
These faith healers, though they may not ask for money directly, often get huge amounts offered in return for health. One of his followers told Manorama that he had paid a “handsome amount as a token” for the healing.
Siraj alleged that Uwais has great networking skills that he uses to mislead people, including close relatives. He said, “He misguided around ten families in our neighbourhood. Their children have never received immunity vaccinations. The adults haven’t taken COVID-19 vaccines so far.”
Lack of evidence and witnesses
Everyone knows what is happening in Kannur, but lack of evidence and witnesses do not let the investigation go further. Police, however, believe that the recent death of the girl may build a case. R Ilango, Kannur City Police Commissioner, said that Siraj’s statement had given a big boost to the investigation. “We will investigate all suspicious deaths in the neighbourhood during the last seven years. We will seek legal advice on how to proceed with the investigation,” he added.
Awareness programs
The organizations in the region are now coming forward to put an end to occult practices in Kannur. Muhammed Younus, an activist of the City Snehatheeram, said, “People like Uwais wield considerable clout in the society. They enjoy a cult following. Their followers are ready to do anything for them. It is a dangerous trend. The society should take initiatives to educate common people about the hazards of following them.”
The Kodapparamba Mosque, which is located close to Uwais’s residence, is planning to launch a house-to-house campaign to inform people to stay away from faith healers. Marzooque Saadi Imam of the Kodapparamba said, “We will educate people that faith healing is illegal. We will also teach them that Islam abhors such practices. That is the only way to dissuade people from the clutches of black magic practitioners.”
He further added, “We summoned him after we came to know about his fraudulent activities. He failed to give us a clear explanation. So we told him to stop such practices. But he continued his activities secretly.”
The anti-superstition bill
In 2019, the Law Reforms Commission submitted a draft of the anti-superstition bill to the State government. It has been waiting since then to become a law in the state. Ilango has vouched for the law to be passed soon. He said, “Existing laws are a bit general, and anti-superstition law would have ensured stringent punishment for those involved in sorcery, black magic and occult practices.”
