Odisha: 17 get life term for burning couple to death over sorcery suspicion

 The incident had taken place at Nimapali (Surisahi) under Kalinganagar Police limits on July 20, 2020. Some residents used to suspect that Shaila Balmuj and his wife Sambhari Balmuj were practicing sorcery.

HIMANSU SHEKHAR ROUT, Odisha Tv, ODISHA, 16 NOV 2023: In a major judgment, a court on Thursday sentenced 17 persons to life imprisonment after they were convicted for burning a couple to death over witchcraft suspicion in Jajpur. The judge of the civil and criminal court at Jajpur Road pronounced the verdict. 

As per reports, the incident had taken place at Nimapali (Surisahi) under Kalinganagar Police limits on July 20, 2020. Some residents used to suspect that Shaila Balmuj and his wife Sambhari Balmuj were practicing sorcery. Their suspicion grew after the death of a person in the village.

A group of 17 people first set the house of the couple ablaze, made a bonfire and threw the couple into it. The couple was charred to death.

Following a complaint, police had arrested 17 people.  

Government counsel, Rajat Rout said, “All the accused were convicted. The accused had suspected that the couple hexed a person to death. Then, they set the house of the couple afire before charring the two to death by making a bonfire before the eyes of their children.”

PTI, Jajpur (Odisha), Nov 16, 2023 : A court in Odisha’s Jajpur district on Thursday sentenced 17 people to life imprisonment for burning a couple to death three years ago over suspicion that they practised sorcery.

After convicting them in the case, Jajpur Road Additional District and Sessions Judge Hrusikesh Acharya slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on each of the 17 people.

Several villagers barged into the house of the couple, identified as Shaila Balmuj and Sambari Balmuj, at Nimapali village in Kalinga Nagar area during the late hours of July 7, 2020, and attacked them on sorcery suspicion.

They later set the couple’s house on fire in which the man and his wife were charred to death.

The court pronounced its verdict after examining 20 witnesses and other pieces of evidence, according to the public prosecutor Rajat Kumar Rout.