Khallikote: Khallikote police conducted an awareness programme at Gopalpur village Sunday to educate the people against superstition.
The programme was conducted in the wake of the abusing of six elderly people in the village October 1 due to blind faith.
The six elderly men were dragged by the villagers from their homes and forced to consume human excreta on the suspicion that they practised sorcery. The villagers also pulled out the teeth of the elderly men.
The police had arrested 30 men and women in this connection.
Speaking on the occasion, professors Pratap Kumar Ratha and Sudhansu Kumar Dhada exhorted the villagers to develop scientific temper and shun superstition.
A folk dance troupe performed on the theme of superstition.
Sub-inspector Silu Dhal warned the villagers that if the same culture continued in the village in the name of superstition, stringent action would be taken against the guilty.
More than 500 villagers of Gopalpur and neighbouring villages attended the programme.
