A tribal couple in Odisha’s Keonjhar district was allegedly ostracised by community members for refusing to provide puja materials for village purification as some foetal blood of its baby had fallen on the ground when the newborn and the mother were being taken to a hospital. Gunaram Murmu of Puranapani village had sought an ambulance on October 29 to take his pregnant wife to a sub-divisional hospital but by the time it arrived, his wife had already delivered the baby.
The 22-year-old man said he was asked by the village headman and others to give three roosters, handia (a local brew), and some material for performing puja near the village deity to get rid of possible harm to the community as per tribal belief.
“I refused it as I consider the practice to be a superstition," he said. The villagers were also against taking the pregnant woman to a hospital for delivery, which they said was against traditional customs, he claimed.
Murmu alleged that as he refused to meet the demands, the villagers at a meeting decided to boycott his family for going against community norms following which he complained to Ghasipura police station on November 1.
Ghasipura police station sub-inspector Manas Ranjan Panda, who rushed to the village to inquire into the matter, said he has settled the issue after talking to both the parties.
As per tribal tradition, we had asked Gunaram to provide some material for performing puja. He refused to give the same and instead lodged a complaint with the police, said Siba Shankar Marandi, a resident of Purunapani village. Meanwhile, the district health officials said that people are now gradually understanding the benefits of institutional deliveries and therefore its ratio has increased to 98 per cent in 2020-21 from 72.2 per cent in 2015-16.
Dr. Pranatini Nayak, Additional district medical officer (family welfare), Koenjhar, said many women belonging to tribal communities are now coming forward for institutional deliveries.
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