Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 9: A family from Erasama village in Jagatsinghpur district is on the run for a month after a group of people beat them up and robbed their home February 9. The incident happened after a daughter of the family beat up a local ‘strongman’ who allegedly misbehaved with her.
The family lodged a complaint with the local police the same day, naming 16 persons who attacked them, but the police is responding to the case in a half-hearted way. One person, Nabdhan Das, 50, who participated in the attack has been arrested while the others are at large.
Muduli, an ex-vice chairperson of Erasama block, who was among the main accused, has been untouched as he is influential and on good terms with the police. Says inspector in-charge Lakhmidhar Biswal: “When the incident (misbehavior) is claimed to have happened, Muduli was sitting with us at the police station. He is a gentleman. We can’t arrest him based on an FIR unless there is evidence.”
February 9, teacher Sagarika Parida, a resident of Erasama village, was riding back home in her bike from school, when Muduli, sitting outside his home, allegedly waylaid her and passed lewd comments. Sagarika ignored him while her sister riding pillion asked him to let them go. “Muduli pushed me by putting his hand on my chest,” Sagarika alleged, adding, she was enraged and slapped him.
Back at home, while she was narrating the incident to her parents, a mob led by Muduli’s son Manas Muduli gathered outside her home. Manas threatened the family to come out or else they would “burn it.”
As soon as Sagarika’s parents with their two daughters emerged out of their home, they were beaten up by the mob. Muduli’s daughter Linu Muduli told her cousin to rape the two sisters. “Linu told her brother: do whatever you want to do with them,” Sagarika alleged.
The clothes of Sagarika and her sister were torn while the two were crying for help. Her father was lying down on the middle of road, his head injured and bleeding. After an hour, Erasama police shifted the injured to a local hospital. By then, the police had registered an FIR against Sagarika and her family for assaulting Ramchander Muduli.
The family fled the scene as the other side was influential anything could happen. Since Feb 9, they are away and have not returned to their home. They are living in hiding for fear of their lives, a relative said.
Sagarika told Orissa POST, “They say we lodged a complaint with the police and are seeking authorities’ help only because they left us alive. If we go back, they will kill us.”
The inspector in-charge insisted, “If we were to arrest Ramchander Muduli, we would first arrest Sagarika because there is an FIR against her, for assault, as well. She started all this. She shouldn’t have slapped an old man.”
Against Muduli and his accomplices, the following charges have been leveled: Section 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (hurt), 427 (mischief), 354 (A) (outraging woman’s modesty), 454 (trespass), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 307 (attempt to murder).
