Denying to vote in favour of a PRI candidate in last Panchayat polls has cost dear for a women in Khurda district. She was repeatedly beaten up and tortured for years and as if it was not enough, the woman was later ostracized from the village. With nobody coming to her aid, the victim woman finally requested the State Commission for Women (SCW) to allow her to commit suicide as she was harassed from all quarters of the State machinery.
Nayana Pallai of Baradi village under Banpur police station limits is a tenant of late Sarat Chandra Patra. As her husband has been staying abroad in search of menial job, Nayana has to stay home alone along with her two daughters. However, it was not a problem for her to sustain herself. The trouble started when she was told by a candidate to cast her vote in his favour and she did not oblige.
According to sources, one and a half years ago, Manas Pradhan, a Congress worker from Baradi village switched over to BJD and asked Pallai to vote in his favour during the Panchayat polls. But when she and the family members of her landlord did not cast their votes to him, it enraged Pradhan, who won the elections and later became the block chairman. He began torturing the woman mentally and physically.
Pallai went to the nearby police station to lodge complaint but without any avail. Since she is living alone, Pradhan and his associates Prakash, Bubuna and Pramod attacked her and assaulted her mercilessly on May 24 last. Even after lodging a complaint, the police remained silent.
On May 27 last, Pallai knocked the door of the State Human Rights Commission and the SCW for justice.
Pradhan and his friends again attacked her and threatened to take away her daughters. On June 14 night, Pradhan and his 20-member gang came to her home and started scolding them using abusive language. They also attacked the members of her landlord family.