Bhadrak: A harrowing incident of mob violence driven by superstitions has emerged from Odisha’s Bhadrak district, where a woman was allegedly stripped, brutally beaten and dragged through public streets by fellow villagers, who accused her of practising witchcraft.
According to sources, the incident took place on September 25, when a group of villagers barged into the victim’s home under Bhadrak Rural police limits. Armed with crowbars and wooden sticks, the assailants severely beat the woman until she began bleeding profusely, vandalised her residence, damaged her property’s grill and fencing, and looted her belongings. The violence escalated further as the victim’s family and local sarpanch attempted to rush her to the hospital in an auto-rickshaw. Intercepting the vehicle on the road, the aggressive crowd forcibly dragged her out and assaulted her again.
Police soon reached the spot, rescued her and admitted her to the Bhadrak District Headquarters Hospital. After being discharged from the hospital, she and her family lodged a formal complaint at the police station on September 27, seeking action against those involved.
While primary suspects reportedly fled the village soon after the attack, police are examining viral video footage circulating on social media, in which the woman can be seen being pulled from the auto-rickshaw as her family tried to help her, to identify every perpetrator involved, the sources added.