Dharmagarh: A local court Saturday handed down life imprisonment to eight persons after convicting them for chopping off the palms of two migrant labourers in Kalahandi district in 2013.
Additional district and sessions judge Anand Chandra Behera here imposed a penalty of Rs 20,000 on each of the convicts besides the life imprisonment.
The incident had sparked off widespread outrage across the state as rights activists sought the intervention of the Orissa State Human Rights Commission in this matter. A woman lawyer and labour rights activist Roshan Rajan of Hyderabad gathered evidence and offered legal assistance to the victims.
The incident occurred when labour contractors Parmesh Dandi, Baikuntha Rauti, Bana Majhi, Arjun Bhoi, Gangadhar Das, Jaysen Thela, Bimal Rout, and Mantu Nial asked migrant labourer Nilambar Dhangda Majhi and Dialu Nial to accompany them to Hyderabad on the pretext of offering them employment in December, 2013.
The two unsuspecting labourers were instead taken to the house of Parmesh Dandi in Kotamal village under Sinapali police limits in Nuapada district and held captive. There the contractors called up the families of the two labourers and demanded ransom of 2 lakh.
The labour contractors then took the two victims to a jungle near Titlagarh where they chopped off the palms of the victims.
Locals rescued the victims in a critical condition and admitted them to hospital in Bhawanipatna. The two victims returned home after their recovery and narrated their ordeal to their family members. Later, family members lodged a complaint with police.
Police registered a case and the matter was probed under the direct supervision of the then Dharmagarh SDPO Dinabandhu Sethy. The accused were arrested and produced in court.
The family members of the two victims expressed their confidence in the judiciary after pronouncement of the order. Public prosecutor Dhirendra Nath Patra pleaded the matter on behalf of the state government. PNN
