**Bhubaneswar:** Suspicion of child theft leading to crimes has caught up with the rural tribal pockets of Odisha with a few incidents reported in the last few months. In the most recent incident, two mentally unstable youths, one of whom was a minor were tied and beaten ruthlessly by the locals of Laxmiposi Chhak in Baripada just because they suspected as child lifters. Moreover, this occurred in broad daylight witnessed by hundreds of villagers on the outskirts of the district headquarters town. Even their innocent father bore the brunt of the villagers ire when he tried to intervene and rescue his innocent sons.
In a similar case which took place in first week of June, a woman was brutally assaulted and lynched to death by some angry villagers over suspicion of child theft in Mayurbhanj district. Her only crime was she was roaming around in the village and was not able to answer the queries posed by the villagers. It seems that she was mentally unstable.
The villagers not only tied her to a tree the whole night, but also pelted stones at her. She was lynched to death the following morning.
Such incident of kangaroo court was seen last month when three persons were beaten mercilessly over the suspicion of child theft. A few days back, a youth was meted out such inhumane mob justice at Baramail Chhak in Betanati.
Such instances were reported from Rairangpur, Karanjia and Udala earlier. These medieval-time justice methodology seems to be surging in Odisha’s villages where the people give out verdict on the mere basis of suspicion, leaving no room for any kind of ‘benefit of doubt’ for the victims, making it a matter of grave concern.