A 50-year-old man from Nuapada district in Odisha named Kham Singh Majhi was brutally beaten and burnt alive by villagers who claimed he was a ‘witch doctor’. The barbarous act occurred in the afternoon at Portipada village, where a meeting similar to a court was conducted to deliberate over alleged witchcraft practice by Majhi. According to the police case books, during the village assembly, the accused was confined with straw and burnt as a penalty.
The fire burnt him to death. Majhi was running across each house, begging for help, but none of the neighbours had met him. Severely burnt, he tried to save himself and jumped into a pond that was near him. His family waded in to take him and rushed him to the Sinappli government hospital. Because of this, Majhi was eventually moved to the district headquarters hospital, where he is now struggling to survive.
The deceased’s son, Hemlal, stated that his father was threatened by the villagers concerning witchcraft for performing black magic. “The villagers, having come to know about the act of my father, called a meeting and threatened to harm him for indulging in black magic. As soon as they worked with him, and he denied it, they proceeded to assault him and then burn him,” said Hemlal.
Police have filed an FIR at the Sinapalli police station, and the police have begun the searches for the culprits who caused such an attack. Khariar’s Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), who led the operation, said that the majority of the villagers ran away when the police intercepted them. Odisha Police are, however, pursuing the culprits to ensure that the villagers who were trying to flee the area get justice. It also evidences existing superstitious beliefs and the violent reactions that people are subjected to based on witch hunts in rural India.
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