Twenty one persons have been booked for brutally assaulting and stripping three men over witchcraft allegations in Raipur three months ago.
The First Information Report (FIR) was registered on June 9 following a lower court order. It documents that the trio were held captive by the mob that thrashed them, paraded semi-naked and robbed them of their money and other belongings in the Abhanpur area of Raipur district on March 13. It also notes that despite being aware of the incident, the police refused to file an FIR initially forcing the victims to seek judicial intervention.
The three victims Naresh Kumar Sahu, Amar Singh Sahu and his son Tilak Sahu were allegedly hit with bamboo sticks and belts.
According to the FIR, after parading them semi naked in the village, they were made to sit naked in a square and were beaten with shoes, slippers and sticks throughout the night. “In the meanwhile, the applicants fainted many times, so they were brought back to consciousness by giving them water and they were beaten again and again. They rubbed red chilli powder on the places from where blood was oozing out. When the applicants screamed in pain, non-applicants no. 1 to 16 laughed and made fun of them,” the FIR adds.
The torture continued till next morning when someone from the village informed the police. Yet, “the police came but could not save the applicants in view of the crowd present there and their aggressiveness and abusive language”. The initial police responders then called for more police force that led to the assault being stopped. It is further alleged that the accused in order to avoid any action against them, pressured the applicants and got them to sign a letter stating that they did not want any police action.
“Since the applicants were in fear for their lives at that time, the applicants were forced to sign on a plain paper and only after signing did the non-applicants allow the police to take the applicants away,” says the FIR.
On the police’s role, the FIR says the applicants requested the aforesaid police personnel to take action and when they asked to take them to the police station, they cited that they were busy maintaining law and order during Holi festival.
Raipur Senior Superintendent of Police Lal Ummed Singh said FIR had been registered against 21 accused following the court order.
Published – June 12, 2025 04:27 am IST
