NUAPADA: A 50-year-old migrant worker from Khariar block in Nuapada district sustained critical burn injuries after he was allegedly abducted from a train, electrocuted, doused with inflammable liquid and set on fire for attempting to flee harsh working conditions at a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh.
The victim, Bidyadhar Majhi of Junapani Khalia Bhata village under Khariar police limits, has sustained burn injuries mostly on his back and left side of his body.
According to Bidyadhar’s family members, he along with his son Ajay Majhi and six others had gone to work as migrant labourers in AP around three months ago. They were employed at AR Madhab brick kiln in Allanam area of AP. Unable to endure the alleged inhuman workload and conditions, Bidyadhar decided to return home without informing the kiln owner. About two weeks ago, he boarded a train from Secunderabad to Visakhapatnam.
Upon learning of the escape, the kiln owner allegedly sent three to four hired goons to apprehend the migrant worker. The assailants traced Bidyadhar to a railway station, about 100 km from Srikakulam. When the worker attempted to flee after getting down from the train, he was allegedly overpowered, taken to an isolated location, wrapped in a blanket and given electric shocks. The attackers then reportedly poured inflammable substance on his body and set him on fire before fleeing the scene.
Railway police later rescued Bidyadhar and admitted him to Srikakulam government hospital. On being informed, the worker’s family members rushed to Srikakulam and lodged a complaint in Ponduru police station. Due to the severity of Bidyadhar’s injuries, doctors advised his family members to shift him to a higher medical centre.
However, citing acute financial distress, the family brought him back to Odisha and admitted him to Nuapada district headquarters hospital (DHH). Heeding the advice of the DHH doctors, they shifted him to VIMSAR, Burla. But the family, constrained by poverty, eventually brought him home without advanced treatment.
On the other hand, police refuted the allegations made by the victim’s family. Khariar IIC Dilip Sahu said after the incident came to their notice, they contacted the SHO of Ponduru police station. “The Ponduru SHO informed us that, as per the statement of the station master of the local railway station, the migrant labourer was in an inebriated condition and accidentally came in contact with an electric panel box, resulting in his burn injuries. Had miscreants deliberately set him on fire, he would have sustained burn injuries over the entire body,” Sahu said.
However, Ponduru police has registered a case under relevant provisions of BNS. An investigation is underway to ascertain the exact sequence of events and identify any person involved in the incident, the IIC added.