BALANGIR: A few residents of Karakachia village under Loisingha police station limits of the district chopped off a woman’s hair suspecting her character.The incident had taken place on June 3. However, the matter came to light on Monday after the victim filed an FIR at Loisingha police station against five men and three women. The eight people, including three women of Karakachia village in Loisingha police station limits, misbehaved with the victim and accused her of having extra-marital affair. Though a case been registered based on a formal complaint lodged by the victim, no one has been arrested yet.
Sources said some villagers had called a meeting - basically a kangaroo court -where the victim was ‘indicted’. She was, however, let off with a warning. On June 3, a few villagers, including women, caught hold of the woman on the village road and chopped off her hair. They also tried to strip her. The victim said she had been punished for no fault of hers. The woman and her family were asked to keep mum as a result of which they did not lodge a police complaint for 8 days.
Loisingha police station IIC LL Balla said, “The woman has filed a case against one Kiran Barik and his relatives alleging that they questioned her character and chopped off her hair. We have started an investigation into the matter. The villagers had a dispute with the woman over allegations of illicit relationship that was sorted out in a meeting. The woman, however, has alleged that one Kiran Gadtia and her family members along with some other villagers tortured her in the village by cutting her hair and tried to strip her”.