A kangaroo court in Nabarangpur district has ordered social boycott of a family over its land dispute with some villagers.
The incidence took place in village Dumrimunda under the Raighar police limits. According to sources, the family members of Pramath Bairagi are ostracised after the village committee’s diktat.
The village committee’s ruling followed Bairagi’s refusal to leave a plot of Government land under his possession since long for construction of a temple.
Bairagi’s family members are subjected to social boycott with local shops being asked to refuse to sell anything to them. The family is also barred from fetching water from the local water body, said a villager on a condition of anonymity.
Advocate and human rights activist Sankar Dey, who visited the family, condemned the village committee’s act and said that it should be treated as violation of one’s fundamental right.
“We all have certain fundamental rights given to us by our Constitution. If the rights are violated then it is the responsibility of everyone to protest it. It is the duty of the administration to ensure that the rights are not violated,” said Dey.
However, the local Tehsildar said he had no knowledge about the matter. Bairagi said his family would move the State Human Rights Commission for justice.