Couple killed, bodies burnt over witchcraft suspicion in Odisha
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KENDRAPADA: An elderly couple was allegedly killed and their bodies set on fire on Sunday night by some villagers on suspicion of practising sorcery. The incident took place at Nimapali village under Kalinganagar police station in the tribal-dominated Jajpur district.
Police said the killers suspected the couple – Saila Balmuch (65) and his wife Basanti (60) – responsible for the death of five youths from the village in the past eight months. In order to take revenge, the villagers killed the couple and later burnt their bodies after dousing them in kerosene.
“On Monday, we detained four persons in this case. Some of the accused managed to flee from the village. We are raiding their hideouts,” said Jayaram Satapathy, additional superintendent of police, Kalinganagar.
Police said many villagers in interior Odisha still believe in black magic. “So deep-rooted is the superstition that the villagers believed the deceased husband and wife were evil and were responsible for the death and ill-health of some of the villagers,” Satapathy added.
One of the villagers said the killers appealed to the couple to stop practising witchcraft while the two tried to convince them they were not responsible for the death of the villagers.
“In a fit of rage, they killed the couple and set their bodies on fire,” the villager said, adding, “Some villagers may have died after suffering from malaria, fever or any other diseases. But the killers wrongly blamed the couple for their death.”
In another shocking incident, police on Thursday arrested a tribal man for beheading a woman on suspicion of being a witch in Chhatara village of Jajpur district. After decapitating the woman, the accused walked seven kilometres with the severed head and surrendered before the police at Danagadi.
“Witchcraft is still prevalent in tribal-dominated villages of Jajpur, Koraput, Kalahanadi, Malkanagiri and Rayagada districts. Odisha became the fourth state in the country after Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to enact the Odisha Prevention of Witch-hunting Act in 2013 but witchcraft still dominates life in tribal villages, resulting in deaths every year,” said Binayak Swain, a human rights activist.