Balangir: A 20-year-old tribal woman was allegedly assaulted and human faeces were forced into her mouth at a village in Odisha’s Balangir district.
As per information, the incident happened in Jurabandha village under the jurisdiction of Bangamunda police station area on November 16, police said.
Sources said the 30-year-old accused allegedly assaulted and force-fed human excreta to the woman and rubbed it on her face after she objected to him driving his tractor through her farmland, damaging standing crops.
When her aunt went to rescue her, she was also assaulted by the accused, a non-tribal, according to the FIR lodged against the man.
Expressing concern over the incident, BJD MP Niranjan Bisi alleged that the police have not taken any action against the accused, which has angered the tribals.
He told reporters in Bhubaneswar that if the law and order situation in Bangamunda deteriorates, the state government would be responsible.
Balangir’s Superintendent of Police Khilari Rishikesh Dnyandeo said the accused has been on the run since the incident.
“We have formed two special teams to nab him. Even police teams have been sent to neighbouring states in search of him,” the SP said.
Another police officer said that the absconding accused, identified as Abhaya Bag, has been booked under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The victim’s relatives and eyewitnesses have alleged undue delay in police action, blaming Bag’s political connections for obstructing the investigation. The woman and her younger sister rely on their two-acre farmland for their livelihood, they said.