Two men branded sorcerers, fined

BALASORE:  A village committee in Nilagiri of Balasore district on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 on two old men after branding them as sorcerers. The incident came to light when the victims lodged complaints with the police on Wednesday after the committee demanded Rs 10,000 more to ward off an evil spirit from one of the victim’s houses. The village committee of Tenda imposed Rs 30,000 fine on Mangulu Singh (70), a guard at Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary entry, alleging deaths of fellow villagers a month back. One of them had already paid Rs 30,000 to the committee while the other is yet to do it.According to the FIR, Nilagiri OIC Jogeswar Mahanta said the villagers convened a meeting following death of two persons in quick succession. They suspected sorcery and held Mangulu responsible for the deaths and branded him a wizard. Even as he pleaded innocence, he was not spared, the OIC said. Later the villagers forcibly took him to a tantrik of Udala area in Mayurbhanj district who too allegedly held Mangulu guilty and confirmed that he had practised sorcery. At another meeting the fine was imposed on him. A financially weak Mangulu had to sell his bullocks and mortgage  landed property to pay the fine. “When they demanded Rs 10,000 more I informed the police fearing threat to life,” he said. In another incident, Budhia Singh of the same village was allegedly asked by two persons to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 by accusing him of practising black magic to gain wealth. In his complaint, Singh alleged that villagers demanded ` 5,000 more to drive away a ‘debata’ from his house. Meanwhile, the OIC said all the people were in an inebriated state when they visited the village and were not in a mood to listen. The police are trying to convince them and hope they will come round, he added.