BARIPADA: Bangiriposi police on Saturday lodged an FIR against three persons for allegedly ostracising a couple on suspicion of practising sorcery. The three accused are Vima Murmu, Repa Murmu and Babuli Murmu of Bangiriposi area. The couple Chittan Murmu and Parbati Murmu of Jualikata village within Bangiriposi police limits had been ostracised for seven months. They had approached the police for providing them security so that they could take care of their newborn baby.
Bangiriposi IIC Chandan Ghadei said the couple will be provided security after they return home. Parbati had delivered the baby on Tuesday and has been admitted to Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital here as the condition of the newborn remains critical. The couple’s ordeal began when the villagers suspecting them of practising sorcery, ostracised them.
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After a new elderly people and children fell ill, the villagers held the couple responsible. Chittan and Parbati were ostracised basing on an order passed by a kangaroo court. The couple, who were forced to leave Jualikata, took shelter at nearby Joka village. However, the tribulation of the couple was far from over.
As soon as residents of Joka came to know that they have been ostracised, the couple was asked to leave the village. They then took shelter at a relative’s house in Dashisol village in Nishchinta panchayat. After three months of their stay, Chittan and Parbati were again asked to leave. By this time, Parbati was seven months pregnant. However, nobody came forward to help the couple, who built a shelter using tarpaulin sheets at a mango orchard near Mahinshaduha village.
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However, they were asked by the Forest department staff to vacate the land. Left with no option, they built another tent at Sasdapal mango orchard and have been living there for the last three months. Chittan, a landless labourer, has been eking out living a by selling dry wood he collects from the nearby forest. “I could not even go to the police as the villagers had warned me of dire consequences if I did so,” he said.
When Parbati went into labour in the morning, he had no means to take her to Bangiriposi Community Health Centre (CHC) or the district headquarters hospital. The woman had to deliver her baby in the tent. Receiving information, the CHC staff rushed to the spot, rescued both the mother and the child and admitted them to the medical college.
Father-son duo killed over sorcery suspicion
In a heart-rending incident, a father-son duo was brutally killed by miscreants over suspicion of practising sorcery in Maliguda village within Mathili police limits on Friday night. The deceased are Sadan Mali and his son Nilendra Mali. Both were returning from a nearby village when they were assaulted by the miscreants killing them on the spot. Their bodies were dumped near a river. At least two persons involved in the brutal murder have reportedly surrendered before Mathili police, said sources.