NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Four persons, including a woman and a schoolteacher, were beaten up, tonsured, and paraded naked in Titipur village in Orissa's Puri district for allegedly practising black magic.
The villagers suspected the four --- Indramani Sethi, 45, Sura Jena, 45, Laxmi Charan Jena, 58, and a woman Sarasa Jena, 46 --- of performing black magic, after the village witnessed 50-odd suicides in the last five years.
Laxmi Charan said, "About a hundred villagers gathered on September 23 and forced skins of pigs and cows, and human excreta in our mouths."
But the inhuman torture did not end there. The villagers also extracted four teeth from each of the victims. Laxmi Charan said their lives were spared only on the intervention of the police.
But the ordeal continued on September 30 when the villagers regrouped and hung the victims upside down from a tree near the village pendal.
"After a severe thrashing, they tonsured our heads and paraded us naked in the village street in full view of the entire village," Laxmi Charan said. "They painted our faces with black and white colours and forced us to dance naked in the village street." Their lives were saved once again by the police.
Laxmi Charan said, "The other three belong to Titipur, while I am a resident of neighbouring Jenapur." The foursome was hiding in fear after villagers threatened to kill them, and so did not report the incident earlier. But even after they lodged a complaint, no arrests were made, he said.
Police Inspector P K Mishra, who is in charge of the district intelligence bureau, said he had not received information about any such incident. He said his men were trying to get more details as Titipur village is located in an inaccessible area and the local police station does not even have a telephone.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
