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Human sacrifice: rights panel’s directive to State

CUTTACK: The Orissa Human Rights Commission has recommended the State government to pay compensation of Rs. 30,000 each to two tribal persons of Nabarangpur district whose minor children were killed by a villager in an act of human sacrifice to propitiate the village goddess.

Human rights panel chief Justice R.K. Patra in an order passed recently observed that the manner in which the murder of the children was committed was ‘horrendous’.

Sundarsingh Gond of Benas village under Raigarh police station of the district had killed Gudu, son of Manbondh Gond and Dablu, son of Kartik Gond of the same village in September 2007. After killing the children, Sundersingh offered their heads, livers and lungs to the village goddess.

He was later arrested by the police and had confessed to the crime stating that he did so to propitiate the goddess and to stop recurrence of misfortune on his family. “Sundarsingh was of the belief that the village goddess was displeased with his family for which he lost his two-year-old daughter who died of fever a few days ago,” police investigations revealed.

“The tragic sequel cannot be ignored by us as nobody’s concern,” the commission said adding that in this 21st century, many people were still under hallucination that anger of God or goddess could be pacified on human sacrifice at the alters.

This social evil can only be removed by spread of education and public awareness, the commission observed.

“The agony through which the children’s parents must have gone can well be understood. But life of human being cannot be quantified by money,” said the commission asking the State government to pay the compensation under section 18 (a) (i) of the Protection of Human Rights Act of 1993. The commission also asked the government to pay the compensation by April 30.

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