Yet another shame; superstition & blind belief incresing: Man hacked to death for sorcery in Rayagada
Rayagada (Badal Tah) : A 56 year man named Bhirab Sahu inhabiting at Padmapur block headquarters was mercilessly hacked to death by an unruly mob. After a kangaroo court, Bhairab was forcibly dragged from his house near Hatapada of Padmapur block around 11 PM last Monday and attacked with wooden sticks and sharp firewood pallets. It is alleged that the mob even attacked the police inspector, who went to rescue the victim from the spot. The mob pelted stones at police. It seems, the police had severe head injury with eight stitches. The police with two platoon force moved to the incident spot and nabbed around 30 hooligans involved in beating and stone pelting. Bhairab, profusely bleeding was brought to Community Health Centre(CHC), Padmapur; but the doctor declared him brought dead & succumbing to injuries.
All this happened due to sheer blind belief and superstition of the accused regarding sorcery act by Bhairab. Unfortunately, this dastardly incident happened near Padmapur police station. Bhairab’s daughter has demanded that the culprits be booked soon and hanged to death. Rayagada SP Swathy Kumar has taken the matter seriously. The manhunting is still on to nab others involved in this heinous act.
“Padmapur is the most developed block of the district in the context of development index ranking like literacy, agriculture, irrigation, economy, etc. Logically, the awareness level is high. Generally blind beliefs, superstitions, witchcraft & sorcery are prevalent in ignorant adivasi and dalit communities of the district. But this incident happened in general category community, which is a rare phenomenon. Hence education is not the indicator of being aware, it is primarily the mindset”, said T Nagaraju, a dalit youth leader and social worker of the district.
In spite of stringent provisions in the Odisha Prevention of Witch-Hunting Act 2013, Rayagada tops the list of sorcery deaths. During 2016, a total tribal family of three members in Gunupur block was wiped away as the accused alleged involvement of the deceased persons practising sorcery. It was a historic judgement in 2018 when the Gunupur Session court held nine tribals squarely responsible for the cold blooded murder and passed death sentence for all the nine accused; but the Odisha High Court commuted lower court’s decision of death sentence to life imprisonment. There are several cases in in the past in Rayagada where the victims are beaten to death and set ablaze live or dead to destroy proof. Awareness on campaign mode is lacking in the district. All said and done, these kinds of incidents have made the district’s head held extremely low in shame, opined few conscience keepers of Rayagada.
