Saturday, November 12, 2011

Tribals go ahead with their ritual despite court embargo

Arindam Chaudhuri bags Delhi team of i1 Super Series

Orissa Rituals: Tradition over law

Court directions and administrative orders seem to lose relevance when it comes to customs and traditions. The Sulia Yatra of Bolangir is the latest example of this. Every year, the Sulia Yatra festival is observed in Bolangir district of Orissa on the first Tuesday of Pausha month. As part of an ancient practice, tribals sacrifice animals such as goats, buffaloes, hens etc to their deities to appease them. This year it fell on January 12.

The Orissa High Court in its interim directive had asked the district administration of Bolangir to follow the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. Despite the court orders, the ritual of the sacrifice of thousands of animals took place before the Sulia shrine. During the festival, the rituals are performed at three places namely Bada Khala, Sana Khala and Nua Khala which come under Khairagura and Kumuria villages.

“Although Section 144 of the CrPC was enforced at Sana Khala, Bada Khala and Nua Khala, the sacrifice of animals took place in the presence of armed police personnel and senior officials,” said Santanu Kumar Nayak, convenor, Sulia Samskar Manch. He informs that the High Court has been issuing orders to the district administration every year for the last four years to prevent animal sacrifice in the name of ritual, but every year the tribals go ahead with their practice.

Earlier, the district administration in association with Sulia Samskar Manch had launched an awareness campaign against the bloody ritual. The district administration had taken up special drive with meetings, rallies and leaflet distribution in the villages of Sualia Jatra in Deogaon and Gudvella blocks of the district. Anganwadi workers, self helf groups (SHG) and school children were also involved in the drive.

However, since the awareness campaign has been yielding no results, the district administration is planning to initiate action against the offenders. “We found carcasses of beheaded animals here. Action would be taken against the lawbreakers,” additional SP (Bolangir) Srikant Mishra said. R K Patnaik, sub-collector, Bolangir too talked of taking action against the tribals. Meanwhile, more than 40 persons including the priest of the tribals have been served notices under Sec 106 of Cr PC under which they have to sign a bond for maintaining peace for a period of three years.

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