Odisha AIDS afflicted couple assaulted, force fed human excreta !

Odisha Sun Times Bureau

Rayagada, Aug 26:

In a revolting incident, a couple belonging to Bhairavgarh village under Muniguda block in Odisha’s Rayagada district has been ostracized from the village after being allegedly forced fed with human excreta. Their crime:- they suffer from AIDS.

The couple has alleged that they were first tied to an electric pole, brutally assaulted and forced to eat human excreta by the villagers and then asked to leave the village after it was detected that they suffered from AIDS.

They had reported the matter at the Muniguda police station, but no action was taken by the police, the couple alleged.

Left with no option, the couple which belongs to the scheduled caste community, along with their baby boy, met the Rayagada district collector at his grievance cell on Monday and prayed for justice. In an emotion choked voice, the couple pleaded before the collector that they were prepared to leave their native village and stay in Muniguda if they were provided with a house under Mo Kudia or Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) scheme of the government.

District collector, Dr Sashi Bhusan Padhi has asked the couple to visit Muniguda block office on Saturday and has promised to ask Muniguda BDO to provide them with a house in Muniguda.

It may be noted that the couple came to know that they were afflicted with AIDS in 2012 when the district hospital at Rayagada refused to admit the wife for delivering a child and asked her to go to the district hospital at Koraput instead since it didn’t have beds for AIDS patients in its Obstetrics & Gynecology department. The couple was blessed with a son.

Since then, the couple has been looked down upon by their fellow villagers, they alleged. Villagers had barred them from touching anyone in the village or using the village main road, the couple alleged. The couple had to use the river downstream of the village for bathing and their drinking water needs.

The couple even alleged of having been subjected to murderous assault on two occasions for mistakenly treading on the village main road.