Tribal Women Tied To Tree, Thrashed On Suspicion Of Religious Conversion In Odisha

Balasore: Two tribal women were allegedly tied to a tree and beaten up by a mob at a village in Odisha’s Balasore district over the allegation that they were attempting religious conversion of some tribal families, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place in Gobardhanpur village on Thursday and a video of the incident went viral on social media, they said.

After getting information about the incident, a police team immediately visited the spot and rescued two women and a man, Subash Chandra Mallick, the officer-in-charge of the Remuna police station, was quoted by PTI as saying.

After a preliminary investigation, two cases were registered against two groups of people and further probe is underway, he said.

Efforts are being made to maintain peace in the village and prevent any breach of the law and order situation.

The viral video purportedly showed a person, who is yet to be identified, accusing the women of forcibly converting tribals. The women could be seen surrounded by a group of people.
Sources said the two women were booked under Section 4 of Odisha Freedom of Religion Act, 1967 and Section 299 (deliberate and malicious insult of a religion), Section 3(5) (joint criminal liability) and Section 351 (2) (criminal intimidation) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) based on a complaint by Badal Kumar Panda of Nilagiri area in the district.

The police also booked around 15 people under various sections of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and the BNS.

In his complaint to the police, Panda claimed that the women were “forcibly converting” a man to Christianity “by threatening him” in his home at Chhankhanpur village and that village residents had “restrained” the accused.

The man, however, claimed the two women were known to him – one was his relative, and the other a neighbour.

In a separate police complaint, he alleged that some locals also outraged the modesty of the two women by dragging them and tying them to a pillar. They abused the two women over their caste and assaulted them, he alleged.

Police said no one has been arrested in connection with the incident so far, while a notice has been issued to the two women to appear at the police station.