'Ostracised' family spends nights in farm

BALANGIR: Twelve members of a family have taken shelter in the threshing yard of their farmland since Wednesday night after villagers allegedly ostracised them following political enmity, at Mirdhapali village under Sadar police station limits in Balangir district.
The family of Prabhakar Raut (43) was asked to be present in the village meeting where the kangaroo court fined them Rs 50,000 or else the family will be boycotted. The decision of the village meeting was announced in the entire village.
"We left our house in the village after villagers' decision to ostracize my family. Five men, two women and five children of my family were compelled to spend the night inside a thatched house at our farm land in chilling cold weather," said Prabhakar Raut, the victim.
"The dispute arose after some youths of the village started an argument with me over some issue. They targeted me over previous rivalry in the panchayat election," added Rout.
They threatened villagers not to speak to the family or else they will be fined Rs 5,000.
Police came to the rescue of the family after they contacted the inspector in-charge, Sadar police station, for help. "We called both victims and leaders of the village for a compromise after Prabhakar Raut lodged a complaint against five persons of the village. The accused were asked to sign a bond and agreed to live in peace with the victim's family," said Srikanta Sahu, IIC, Sadar.
However, the victim's family wanted police action against the accused.
"My family is still staying in the farmland out of fear. We are not feeling safe as police released all accused after just a warning. We demand strict action against them so that no other family suffers like us in the future," said Ashwini Raut, a member of the victim's family.