Bhubaneswar: The day after Christmas this year, two tribal women were tied to a tree and beaten up by a crowd that accused them of trying to convert a Hindu man into Christianity under the Remuna police station area of Balasore district in Odisha.
Balasore is represented in the Lok Sabha by former union minister Pratap Sarangi who also won the seat in 2019. It shares borders with Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj, the home districts respectively of chief minister Mohan Majhi and president Draupadi Murmu.
‘Face smeared with cake’
The incident came to light after a video showing the two tribal women in their forties tied to the tree with the face of one of them appearing disfigured went viral. The Inspector-in-Charge (IIC) of Remuna police station Subas Mallick confirmed that the women – Subhasini Singh and Sukanti Singh – were beaten up, and that the face of one of them was smeared with the cake they had allegedly brought with them to the Chhankhanpur hamlet of Mukhura village in Remuna. Locals claimed that had brought the cake to celebrate a conversion which was thwarted. Police detained four persons in connection with the incident and filed two cases under various sections of Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Odisha Freedom of Religions Act, 1967.
The video makes the humiliation of the two women clear. It shows them surrounded by a group of men and women with one of the men wearing a white shirt saying that they were responsible for destroying (Hindu) religion and culture. The man sporting a vermillion tikka on his forehead later raises slogans of “Bharat Mata ki jai” and “Jai Shri Ram.” The women watch helplessly.
‘Christmas picnic’
Chitta Nayak, the assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of Nilgiri police station, said he reached the spot after being asked by his immediate senior sub-inspector Dilip Kumar Senapati to rush to the scene of the incident. “We had received a call from the district police control room that some people were engaging in religious conversion in a particular area where there was tension. I was asked to rush there. I saw two women tied to a tree and brought them with me to our police station but later we realised that the area where the incident took place fell under [the jurisdiction of the] Remuna police station. So we handed them over to the Remuna police,” said Nayak.
Sub-inspector Dilip Senapati, however, tried to dismiss the incident. “Some people were having a Christmas picnic. They had brought a cake. Some Hindus thought they were attempting conversion,” said Senapati.
‘Humiliated for trying to embrace another faith’
However, Subas Mallick, the IIC of Remuna police station, who is handling the case, gave a more detailed account about what allegedly happened at the Chhankhanpur hamlet on December 26. He said Subhasini, who is said to be a Christian hailing from Makhpada village in Nilgiri area, had come to the village to visit one Gobind Singh (40), a Hindu tribal, apparently with the intention of converting him into the Christian faith. Her visit was facilitated by Sukanti, a Hindu, who belonged to Chhankhanpur. “Somehow members of the Hindu community came to know about Subhasini’s visit and her intentions and immediately gathered at the spot. They tied the two women to a tree and also smeared Subhasini’s face with the cake she had brought with her. Gobind Singh was also humiliated by the mob for trying to embrace another faith,” the cop said.
Mallick said police detained four persons – Bapin Nayak, Pitambar Biswal, Prashant Nayak and Badal Panda – in connection with the incident. The BNS sections invoked against the accused included those pertaining to assault and prevention of atrocities against scheduled castes and tribes. Odisha Freedom of Religions Act, on the other hand, seeks to prevent forcible conversions or conversions through unfair means including inducements.
‘Expressed regret’
According to Mallick all the four detained on December 27 were later released after they came to an understanding with the women who had faced humiliation at their hands. “As both sides reached an understanding we released the youths. The youths apologised to the women for having misbehaved with them and Gobind Singh, the man who was supposed to be converted, also expressed regret for having agreed to change his faith. However, two cases have been filed in connection with the incident,” said the Remuna IIC.
Odisha Congress spokesperson Amiya Pandab described the incident as shameful and a poor reflection on the law and order situation in the state. “What is even more shameful is that such atrocities are being committed against women, that too, tribal women who are among the most vulnerable. Remember the chief minister himself hails from the tribal community and so does the president of our country who comes from Mayurbhanj district,” said Pandab.
Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Latika Pradhan felt that the threat to the weaker sections of the society including women and minorities was becoming graver under the BJP-led government in the state. “They are under constant threat everywhere. If someone is indulging in illegal conversions there is a law to take care of that. But hoodlums should not be allowed to take law into their own hands. This is vigilante justice which is just not acceptable,” asserted Pradhan, claiming that former chief minister and present leader of opposition Naveen Patnaik always upheld secular values and went out his way to protect the minorities.
Patnaik, who had led a coalition government in the state from 2000 to 2009 with BJP as his partner, had severed ties with the saffron party ahead of 2009 elections as he felt that his government’s image had been dented by 2008 communal riots in Kandhamal triggered by the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati. The violence had left more than 30 members of the Christian community dead, thousands homeless and more than 300 churches vandalised.
