Bargarh: In a bizarre incident, a woman forced a man to kneel inside knee-deep mud for hours claiming to purify him. She also allegedly stripped a woman, made her lay in the mud and danced on her on the pretext of warding off evil spirits.
The incident was reported from Bhanjipali village under Bheden police limits of Bargarh district. While the incident occurred August 24, it came to the fore after the victims approached police Tuesday.
According to sources, Sitaram Panda (53) of the village was called on some pretext and taken to a Hanuman temple where a woman sorcerer was waiting for him.
The sorcerer accused Panda of being a bad omen and responsible for the misfortunes suffered by the village. She accused Sitaram of practicing sorcery, which allegedly resulted in the deaths of children in the village.
Though it was raining heavily on that day, the sorcerer ordered Sitaram to kneel inside an ankle-deep muddy patch. She even cursed that within 12 hours his hands will come apart and his house will be brazen. The villagers stood as mute spectators as the hapless man got drenched in rains for hours.
After this act, the sorcerer dragged another woman named Chainka in the middle of the village, stripped her and made her lay naked on the mud. She claimed that the woman was ‘possessed’ by the evil spirits and danced on her, on pretext of warding off evil spirit and easing her ‘possessed’ body.
The villagers watched the entire drama and waited to see the sorcerer’s prophecies come true, but nothing happened either to Sitaram or Chainka.
Realising their folly, villagers subsequently called a meeting where it was decided that Sitaram should approach the police for justice. So Sitaram filed a complaint against four accused persons.
The police have started an investigation into the incident.
PNN
