In a shocking move, a local kangaroo court has sentenced Dushmanta Sahu, a villager of Ragdiapada of Odisha’s Angul district, to move around 13 villages beating gongs due to his wife Mallika Sahu’s ‘wrong voting choice’.
In the recent poll for Naib Sarpanch post under Badakera gram panchayat, Mallika voted for ward member Bidyadhar Prusty, instead of Rama Sahu. Sahu was considered to be the favorite choice of villagers. However, the poll results went in favour of Prusty. Thus, the outcome of the poll enraged villagers, who decided to penalize those who voted against Sahu.
Soon, a kangaroo court was set up by the villagers and they decided to punish Dushmanta for his wife’s step. Initially, the couple was asked to pay Rs 50,000 as fine, but as they failed to do so, the husband was asked to move around 13 villages beating the gong.
Reportedly, Dushmanta agreed to pay the fine later, but villagers chose to humiliate him by maintaining the punishment. “Just because my wife did not vote in favor of someone, I was asked to pay 50,000 fine or move around 13 villages admitting my mistake,” he was quoted as saying by India.com.
As per local police, Dushmanta was asked by them to defy the orders of kangaroo court. However, the couple, fearing further boycott from the villagers, obeyed.
“An FIR would be lodged suo motu over the incident even if Sahu does not lodge a complaint,” Banta police station inspector Nirmala Gochhayat said.
