In a shocking incident, an old woman was stripped nude and thrashed mercilessly in the public on suspicion of practising sorcery at Jodapokhari village of Kusumi block in Mayurbhanj district on Sunday.
Reports said that Sushant Hansda, an 18-year-old boy of Jodapokhari, had been brought to the sub-divisional hospital at Rairangpur on July 23 for treatment. After the doctors declared him as ‘brought dead’, his family members took the body to their village.
While the family members were preparing to cremate Sushant in the evening hours on July 26, the hands of the body began to shake and the boy’s respiratory organs reportedly started functioning.
Thinking that Sushant was alive, the family members sought the help of the exorcists of the area, who, after examining the body, expressed their inability to keep him alive.
Meanwhile, three women of the village claimed they would bring the boy back to life. later, the trio started the treatment through sorcery.
While the treatment was underway, one of the women, Pana Hansda (60), suddenly left the area. Suspecting that the woman was practising negative sorcery, irate villagers sought her out, stripped her and beat her black and blue after tying her hands around an electric pole. As the news spread, hundreds of people from nearby villages thronged the village next morning.
The Rairangpur Sadar police rushed to the spot and rescued the old woman and admitted her to the District Headquarters Hospital
at Baripada.
Despite the efforts by senior district officials, including Rairangpur ASP Gobindra Chandra Mallick, SDPO Mohanpani Karua and Assistant Sub-Collector Kirtan Bihari Ojha, who rushed to the village and tried to bring the situation under control, there was no improvement in the situation, the reports said, adding that the body of the deceased was yet to be cremated.
Apprehending further untoward incidents, armed police forces have been deployed in the village.