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6 force-fed excreta over witchcraft suspicion in Odisha
On September 28, after forcing the six men to consume water mixed with human excreta, the group forced out their teeth, using a pair of pliers, and beat them up, police said.
Odisha police on Wednesday arrested 29 people, including 22 women, following complaints that they forced six elderly Dalit people to consume human excreta and pulled out their teeth at a village in coastal Ganjam district, suspecting them of practising witchcraft.
A group of villagers from Goparpur suspected that the six men, identified as Jogi Nahak, Sania Nahak, Rama Nahak, Jogi Das, Hari Nahak, and Duruja Nahak had cast a spell that caused the death of at least three women and the illness of seven others in the area, Ganjam’s superintendent of police Brijesh Rai said.
On September 28, after forcing the six men to consume water mixed with human excreta, the group forced out their teeth, using a pair of pliers, and beat them up, Rai said. “The pleas of the six men for help did not evoke any response from other villagers. The villagers were convinced that those six elderly men were responsible for the deaths and sickness in the village,” said Rai. The victims were locked up in a room until the police were tipped off on Tuesday about the incident.
The SP said that when a police team tried entering the village, they were stopped by a group of women. who accused the police of interfering in village matters. The police finally managed to enter the village after summoning reinforcements.
Rai said the six persons were initially taken to a community health centre but were transferred to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after their condition was found to be serious.
Police officers said a team of doctors visited the village and conducted blood tests to find out the reason for the sickness among the locals. “Primary investigation revealed that most of the villagers were suffering from anaemia,” said a police officer, requesting anonymity.
Odisha has reported at least four killings every month this year of people suspected to be practising witchcraft. The state had recorded at least 35 deaths related to such incidents during the period from January to September.
