Rourkela: An incident that occurred 14 years ago at Patratola under Lathikata block in Sundargarh district has left two researchers shocked. The villagers of Tainsar panchayat did something inhuman according to the research team, and it is finding clues as to what happened and how justice can be given to an unfortunate woman.
This is the story of a witch hunt, and like any other case, this went very badly for Nuni (then 50), wife of Daharu Ekka.
She was made to eat human excreta, stripped naked and was beaten black and blue. After that the villagers left her hanging from a tree. The villagers did not stop at this. They drove her out of the village and barred her forever.
This incident which occurred 14 years ago has left her alone. She has lost the love of her husband, her family, her acquaintances and relatives.
The 14-year-old incident came out when social worker Santanu Kusum and student Itishree Singh Rathore doing research on ‘Violence Due to Suspected Witchcraft,’ reached Tainsar to speak to Nuni.
Their quest led them to Nuni in a corner of the village. Sobbing inconsolably, Nuni narrated what had happened to her the day she was branded a witch.
Nuni was a devout person and used to pray in her house for her family and relatives, and perhaps the villagers found it suspicious.
On the fateful day May 4, 2004, Nuni entered a neighbour’s house while searching for her child who was playing with friends. Incidentally, the neighbour’s daughter fell sick and somehow Nuni was held responsible for the girl’s sudden illness.
Pausing to wipe her eyes she went on, “I was branded a witch. The whole village came down on me. I was charged and tied to a tree. I was thrashed and made to eat human excreta and was driven away. I was warned not to return to the village, or else my life would be made not worth living.”
Nuni could not find a single soul in the village where once she was welcomed as a bride with loud cheers and the beating of drums. The people were staring at her as if she was an outsider or something in her had changed and as if she was capable of destroying the lives of the villagers.
Nuni was neither given an opportunity to present her case, nor could she muster courage to confront the villagers alone.
A few hours later, wearing tattered clothes and with marks of beatings on her body she reached the Kalunga police outpost. She said, “I narrated the incident before the officers present at the station and asked them to register a case against the villagers.”
The police showed no seriousness. As the incident was flashed in newspapers, the court intervened. Only Brahmanitarang police registered a case. At that time several officers starting from the Collector to the then chairperson of the Odisha State Commission for Women promised help. But time passed by, so did their promises, lamented Nuni.
“The 14 years seem like 14 decades to me. Even today my villagers, relatives and my children look down upon me. I am still living with the tag the villagers gave me 14 years ago,” she said. After she was expelled from the village, her children were not allowed to attend school and her husband was kept away from all village activities.
Nuni is now reduced to an example of how doubts and fear can destroy a happy family and life.
Nuni is still crying behind her veil. She is living a life akin to that of a dead person. It seems her tears would never end. Despite all the misfortunes she says, “I keep praying to all the Gods and Goddesses so that no one else’s life gets destroyed like mine.”
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