Rourkela: The court of Additional District Judge-I at Rourkela in Odisha’s Sundargarh district on Friday sentenced 11 persons to life imprisonment and 3 women to 2 years of rigorous imprisonment for murder of a woman on suspicion of practising witchcraft in 2018.
As per the case, the villagers of Ratakhandi village under Biramitrapur police limits in the district suspected Jasoda Singh of the village of practising witchcraft. All the 14 convicted persons went to her house on March 2, 2018 and attacked Jasoda, her husband Phagu Singh and their son Kamalesh Singh with sticks and iron rods.
Though the three victims were seriously injured in the attack, no villager came forward to their help. On getting information, Jasoda’s daughter Banita, who was staying in a nearby village after marriage, rushed to Ratakhandi.
She took her injured parents and brother to Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH) where Jasoda was declared brought dead by the doctors. Later, Banita filed a complaint at Biramitrapur police station in this regard.
Following investigation into the case, the police had arrested all 14 persons and forwarded them to court. After hearing the witnesses and considering the evidences, the ADJ-I court announced its judgment.
