Editing Human sacrifice (section)

===Asia===

====India====
Several incidents of human sacrifice have been reported in India since independence. In 1996, a nine-year-old boy was sacrificed by [[Jharkhand]]-native Sushil Murmu as an offering to goddess [[Kali]]. Murmu was sentenced to death by the court but later got commuted to life imprisonment by the president of India.<ref>{{Cite web |agency=TNN|date=21 February 2012 |title=President commutes Jharkhand resident's death penalty to life {{!}} India News – Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/president-commutes-jharkhand-residents-death-penalty-to-life/articleshow/11969620.cms |access-date=8 January 2023 |website=The Times of India |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sushil Murmu vs State Of Jharkhand on 12 December, 2003 |url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/350207/}}</ref> According to the ''[[Hindustan Times]]'', there was an incident of human sacrifice in western [[Uttar Pradesh]] in 2003.{{efn|
"After a rash of similar killings in the area – according to an unofficial tally in the English language-language ''[[Hindustan Times]]'', there have been 25&nbsp;human sacrifices in western Uttar Pradesh in the last 6&nbsp;months alone – police have cracked down against tantriks, jailing four and forcing scores of others to close their businesses and pull their ads from newspapers and television stations. The killings and the stern official response have focused renewed attention on tantrism, an amalgam of mysticism practices that grew out of Hinduism.<ref>{{cite news |first=John |last=Lancaster |date=29 November 2003 |title=In India, case links mysticism, murder |newspaper=[[Washington Post]]}}</ref>}} Police in [[Khurja]] reported "dozens of sacrifices" in the period of half a year in 2006, by followers of [[Kali]], the goddess of death and time.<ref>{{cite news |first=Dan |last=McDougall |date=5 March 2006 |title=Indian cult kills children for goddess |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |place=Khurja, India |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1723910,00.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=Banyan |date=22 August 2013 |type=blog |title=Atheism in India: He's not the son of God |website=Economist.com |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2013/08/atheism-india |access-date=3 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Dan |last=McDougall |date=5 March 2006 |place=Khurja, India |title=Indian cult kills children for goddess: 'Holy men' blamed for inciting dozens of deaths |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/mar/05/india.theobserver |access-date=3 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Human sacrifice? Beheaded body found near Kali temple in Birbhum |date=16 April 2010 |newspaper=[[Indian Express]] |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/human-sacrifice--beheaded-body-found-near-kali-temple-in-birbhum/607102/ |access-date=3 February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Perry |first=Alex |date=22 July 2002 |title=Killing for 'mother' Kali |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,322673,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114120849/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,322673,00.html |archive-date=14 November 2007 |access-date=3 February 2014}}</ref> In 2010, a two-year-old boy was murdered in [[Chhattisgarh]] in a Tantric human sacrifice.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=21 February 2020 |title=Human Sacrifice, Sentencing and the Death Penalty |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |url=https://www.epw.in/journal/2020/8/commentary/human-sacrifice-sentencing-and-death-penalty.html |language=en |volume=55 |issue=8}}</ref>

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, more than 100 cases of human sacrifices have been reported in India between 2014 and 2021.<ref>{{Cite web |date=16 October 2022 |title=Interactive {{!}} Human sacrifices in India over the years |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/national/interactive-human-sacrifices-in-india-over-the-years-1154106.html |access-date=20 January 2023 |website=Deccan Herald |language=en}}</ref> In 2015, during the Granite scam investigations of [[Tamil Nadu]], there were reports of possible human sacrifices in the [[Madurai]] area to pacify goddess [[Shakti|Shakthi]] for getting power to develop the illegal [[granite]] business. Bones and skulls were retrieved from the alleged sites in presence of the special judicial officer appointed by the [[Madras High Court|high court of Madras]].<ref>{{Cite news |first=Arun |last=Janardhanan |title=After human sacrifice complaint, skeletal remains found in quarry, police call granite baron today |date=17 September 2019 |newspaper=[[The Indian Express]] |url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/after-human-sacrifice-complaint-skeletal-remains-found-in-quarry-police-call-granite-baron-today/ |access-date=7 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tamil Nadu to probe Madurai 'human sacrifice' |date=16 September 2015 |newspaper=[[The Times of India]] |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Tamil-Nadu-to-probe-Madurai-human-sacrifice/articleshow/48979765.cms |access-date=7 March 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Human sacrifice: Skeletal remains unearthed in Madurai |date=14 September 2015 |newspaper=[[India Today]] |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/human-sacrifice-skeletal-remains-unearthed-in-madurai/1/472968.html |access-date=7 March 2019}}</ref>

Between June and October 2022, two women were killed and reportedly cannibalised as part of a [[Elanthoor human sacrifice case|human sacrifice in Elanthoor]] in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala.<ref>{{cite news |date=12 October 2022 |title=Body parts chopped, cooked, eaten: Human sacrifice ritual stuns Kerala |website=indiatoday.in |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/crime/story/kerala-human-sacrifice-ritual-chilling-details-main-accused-kochi-police-statement-2284372-2022-10-12}}</ref> In October 2022, a six-year-old boy was killed in Delhi by two men to please a deity.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 October 2022 |title=Six-year-old killed by two men in south Delhi to 'appease deity' |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/delhi-news/sixyearold-killed-by-two-men-in-south-delhi-to-appease-deity-101664735109987.html |access-date=8 January 2023 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}}</ref> In 2023, five men were arrested for the killing and decapitation of a woman with a machete in 2019, as part of a religious rite to mark the anniversary of the ringleader's brother's death, after visiting a Hindu temple in [[Guwahati]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Five arrested over human sacrifice at Indian temple |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/05/indian-police-arrest-five-men-accused-of-human-sacrifice |work=The Guardian |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=5 April 2023}}</ref>