Bhubaneswar: In yet another case of mob justice, villagers in Odisha tied two men and a woman to an electric pole and brutally assaulted on suspicion of an “illicit relationship”.
The incident took place at Begunia village in Mayurbhanj district’s Jashipur block on Friday evening.
According to police sources, the woman from Kashipur village, who is married and has two children, went shopping with two relatives from Kashipal to Jashipur weekly market. While returning home on a motorcycle around 4 pm, locals, including her family members, stopped them at the village square. Accusing the woman of having an affair with one of the two men, the villagers then tied the three of them to an electric pole and thrashed them.
In a video, which has since gone viral, villagers can be seen taking turns to beat up the woman and the men, punching and kicking them and hitting them with sticks. One of those men was very close to her in-laws’ family and was like a brother to her, but that did not stop her paternal uncle and others from suspecting an affair, sources further stated.
On being informed, Jashipur police rushed to the spot and rescued the victims, who were later admitted to a nearby hospital for treatment. A case has been registered, and two suspects were detained for questioning. Efforts were on to identify others involved in the assault, the sources added.