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Elderly couple forced to eat faeces over witchcraft allegations in Odisha
Police arrested 30-year-old accused and booked him under various provisions of IPC and Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2013.
An elderly couple in Odisha’s tribal-dominated Nabarangpur district was forced to eat human faeces by a youth , who accused them of practising witchcraft , police said on Wednesday.
Police said 30-year-old Jagannath Gouda was arrested after a case was registered against him on Tuesday under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act, 2013.
Police inspector Mohan Bhatra said the couple was ayurvedic practitioner, but Gouda suspected they were practising witchcraft. He went to the couple’s house on Tuesday morning and forced them to eat human excreta.
Witch hunting is rampant in the state’s tribal dominated areas despite the government enacting a law in 2013 with provisions of imprisonment for seven years and penalty, to prevent the menace.
A few days ago, a group of people in another village in Nabarangpur hurled excreta at two people over witchcraft allegations.
In December last year, a police constable of Kandhamal district was allegedly tonsured and forced to eat human excreta by a jawan of the India Reserve Battalion over allegation that the former had practised black magic on the latter’s sister.
In 2015, 58 cases of witch hunting were registered while 83 cases were registered in 2016. Till June 2017, 59 such cases had been registered, according to a government statistics.
