‘Ghost’ fear grips Odisha village; students stay away from school

Nuapada: Residents of Nagajhara village under Jharabandha panchayat of Nuapada district have been gripped by ‘ghost’ fear for the past couple of months. Attendance at the Project Upper Primary School, Nagajhara has come down to 16 from the total strength of 120 students. On the other hand, after the ghost fear first reported in July, many villagers have opted to send their unmarried daughters to the relatives’ place outside the village.

A villager said school-going girls of Nagajhara village are behaving in an unusual manner. “An evil spirit has cast its eye on the girls of the village because of which they are displaying abnormal behaviour,” he added.

“We prefer to send our children to schools in nearby villages to avoid the influence of the evil spirit,” said another villager.

During evening hours villagers stay indoors and avoid going outside for the last couple of months because of the fear of an evil spirit.

After getting information about such ‘ghost’ fear, the Khariar SDPO visited Nagajhara on September 15 to hold discussion with the villagers. However, they are in no mood to ignore the fear.