Ranchi: In a shocking incident, a man was brutally beaten by villagers of Besrazara Bazaar Tand in broad daylight for allegedly chopping off trees illegally and selling them. For violating the ‘Khuntkatti’ law, the man was later burned alive in front of police. The horrific incident took place in the Simdega district of Jharkhand. Villagers claim that the man was alerted at least twice during Gram Sabha meetings to stop cutting trees illegally. As he did not listen in spite of getting warned, they thought of teaching him a lesson, the villager said. The deceased victim has been identified as Sanju Pradhan.
The ‘Khuntkatti’ system is a tribal lineage-based system of joint ownership or holding of land. According to the system, the Munda tribals would normally clear the trees and prepare the land for farming, which would then belong to the entire clan rather than a single person. Despite the fact that the police arrived on the scene shortly after receiving information of Pradhan’s execution, they remained silent observers, staring at the large gathering. Simdega SP Shams Tabrez said that the deceased victim had chopped ‘Khuntkatti’ trees in the region following which “the villagers had lodged a complaint with the forest department.” “However, no action was taken against him.
On Tuesday, the villagers held a meeting, following which Pradhan was nabbed and thrashed brutally and torched,” the Simdega SP said. The half-burned body was recovered from the scene of the incident and sent for a post-mortem, according to the SP. He also stated that after an FIR is filed, actions will be taken. Thousands of people from the Bambalkea region’s 9 ‘tolas’ had assembled at the execution site, according to locals. For breaking the ‘Khuntkatti’ law, he was executed in front of his mother and wife.