Rayagada: A disturbing incident has surfaced in Rayagada district where a young couple were subjected to inhumane punishment by villagers for getting married against the societal norms.
The incident occurred in Kanjamajhira village under Sikarpai panchayat of Kalyansingpur block.
According to reports, Laka and Kodia are related by blood, with Kodia being Laka’s aunt (father’s sister). Despite this close familial relationship, the couple fell in love and tied the nuptial knot. The villagers, however, strongly disapproved of their relationship, considering it taboo due to their blood relation. They were outraged by the couple’s decision to get married, and their anger boiled over into violence.
In a shocking display of mob justice, the villagers took the law into their own hands and punished the couple. They forced Laka and Kodia to yoke a plough together, a traditional form of punishment in some parts of rural India. The couple was tied to a wooden yoke, similar to the one used by bullocks to plough fields. In a humiliating and inhumane act, they were made to drag a wooden plough across a field in front of hundreds of villagers.
The villagers reportedly watched the whole act shamelessly without intervening, seemingly approving of the punishment.
To add to their humiliation, the couple was taken to the village shrine, where they were forced to perform purification rituals to cleanse them of their so-called perceived sin.
