At 12, this Odisha boat boy faced British bullets to become India’s youngest martyr

The 12-year old Baji Rout hailed from Odisha, where he stood up against the British and lost his life.

The year was 1926. In a small village in Dhenkanal, Odisha, was born Baji Raut. The boy would soon lose his father and would be brought up by his mother, who was earning a living through rice-husking in the neighbourhood.

At the time, the King of Dhenkanal was Shankar Pratap Singhdeo, infamous for fleecing poor villagers of their earnings. Even Baji’s mother was a victim.

Odisha was reeling under pressure, and the time was ripe for a revolt. It began due to the efforts of Baishnav Charan Pattanayak of Dhenkanal town. Veer Baishnav, as he was fondly known, raised a banner of revolt against the King, and founded Prajamandal, which had a Banar Sena wing composed of young children, which Baji joined, despite being of tender age, according to OrissaMatters.

Pattanayak had a good plan up his sleeve. He took up employment as a painter in the Indian Railways. His main motive was to move from place to place, using the Railway Pass. Through this plan, he was able to meet as many people as possible, instigating them against the King, and establishing contacts with leaders of the National Congress in Cuttack, drawing their attention to the sorry state of the oppressed people of Dhenkanal.

Pattanayak began educating himself in Marxist revolutionary theory and practices, and together with local intellectual Hara Mohan Pattanayak, founded the Prajamandala Andolan, which translates into the ‘Party of the People’.

The movement grew slowly but steadily, and seeing this, many other kings offered their cooperation to the King of Dhenkanal to suppress the people’s movement. Many rulers from adjoining provinces sent armed troops and reinforcements to Dhenkanal, to further oppress the people. Even the British contributed, sending a platoon of soldiers from Calcutta. The English sent 250 gunmen, and with all the bolstered support, the tyrannical King of Dhenkanal unleashed a reign of terror to quell the mass movement.

How better to further suppress the people than economic sanctions? Shankar Pratap placed a ‘Rajabhakta Tax’ or Loyalty Tax, and those who didn’t pay, had their houses razed to the ground by royal elephants, and all their property confiscated. This just incensed the Odisha people further, and the movement gained strength.

Fed up, the king decided to end this once and for all. Pressing his entire force against the leaders of the movement, he targetted Veer Baishnav directly and confiscated his ancestral properties.

On September 22nd, 1938, a surprise raid was planned where Hara Mohan Pattanayak and other leaders were arrested. Pattanayak was wilier than they thought, and he escaped.

The angry authorities kept searching for Pattanayak and stumbled upon news that he was in the Bhuban village, camping. The king and armed forces attacked the village on October 10th, 1938, for the third time, destroying houses and torturing people for information. But, no information on Pattanayak was forthcoming.

Stories started doing the rounds during the raid, including one which claimed that Pattanayak had escaped by jumping into the Brahmani river to swim to safety to villages on the other side. The troops immediately started a pursuit and were met by blockade of simple villagers, who refused to give up their local hero.

The authorities then opened indiscriminate fire, killing two people, Raghu Naik and Quri Naik on the spot, according to Odisha Sun Times. The crowd parted, and the troops ran to the nearest ferry, at Nilkanthapur on the Brahmani river.

A young Baji Rout, on guard at the Ghat at the time, was approached by these troops to ferry them across the river. It was the fateful night of October 11th, 1938. He was in charge of a country boat at the ghat and was sleeping when the troops approached him.

Baji Rout of Odisha fearlessly stood up to the British, at just 12 years of age. Image Credit: Uttam Sahu

Despite being just 12 years old, he refused. Incidentally, the boy had been asked by senior activists to keep an eye on the ghat, to ensure that cops didn’t get ferried across the river.

The angry Britishers ordered Baji to carry them across the river on his boat, and Baji remained stubborn. According to Orissa Matters, a soldier hit Baji on the head with the butt of his gun, fracturing the boy’s soft skull. Baji collapsed but continued raising his voice, warning villagers of the presence of the troop.

Another soldier pierced Baji’s skull with his bayonet, while a third shot him. Witnessing this cruelty, someone ran back and told the villagers, who were angered beyond measure.

The villagers rushed to the spot, and the British cops saw them and panicked. Instead of running after their original target Pattanayak, they got into Baji’s boat and tried to flee from the village. Even while fleeing they opened fire on their pursuers, killing four more, as well as young Baji.

Basihnav Pattanayak was the one to collect the corpses, bringing them to Cuttack by train. People rushed to receive them along with revolutionary slogans of Lal Salaam to the martyrs. Post-mortem tests on the martyr’s bodies were conducted in Cuttack. Eminent freedom movement leaders discussed with Pattanayak, and it was decided that the last journey of the boy Baji Rout and his co-martyrs to the crematorium would be through the lanes of Cuttack so that everyone could get a glimpse of the immortal sons of Odisha.

Thousands of people joined what was to be the largest funeral procession ever witnessed in the state. Baji Rout was carried to the crematorium ground with much fanfare, and the obituary procession was truly one of a kind.

It is only apt that famous poet Sachidananda Routray, Jnanpith Award Winner, wrote a poem about Baji Rout, which opens with the sentence

“It is not a pyre, O Friends! When the country is in dark despair, it is the light of our liberty. It is our freedom-fire.”

Thus, Baji Rout was laid to rest at the crematorium at the age of 12, as a Banar Sena member, giving up his life in the struggle for our freedom.

(Source: TBI)

First ever in India : Odisha publishes 21 bilingual tribal dictionaries to preserve and promote languages

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday unveiled bilingual tribal dictionaries to help preserve and promote tribal languages in the state, The Hindu reported. The dictionaries will be used in multilingual education at the elementary level in tribal-dominated districts.

“The bilingual tribal dictionaries for MLE [multilingual education] and trilingual tribal language proficiency modules in all the 21 tribal languages have been formulated by the Special Development Council,” he said. “Both will help in enhancing proficiency in tribal languages.”

Odisha has a unique place on the tribal map of India for having the maximum number of Scheduled Tribe communities. The State is home to 62 different tribal communities, including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups. These tribes speak 21 languages and 74 dialects. Of the 21 tribal languages, seven have their own scripts. However, Odia is used as the medium of communication in the dictionaries.

(Source: Bhubaneswar Buzz)

The mystery of 'missing' keys to Lord Jagannath Temple’s treasure

CM Naveen fears a backlash if jewellery is found missing from the Jagannath temple’s chamber whose keys were lost

When the juggernaut rolls during the Rath Yatra festival in Puri on July 4, a discordant note amid the revelry would be the missing keys to Lord Jagannath temple’s treasure trove—the Ratna Bhandar. It would be more than a year since the keys went ‘missing’, and no one knows if some of the precious jewellery worth crores of rupees have also disappeared. Nor does anyone know if the keys marked ‘duplicate’ that mysteriously surfaced at the record room of the district collector’s office, nine days after the keys were reported missing on April 4, 2018, were actually the keys of the Ratna Bhandar.

In what is perhaps the only case of its kind in the country, an embarrassed state government had ordered a judicial inquiry on June 7, 2018, six days after a leading Odia TV news channel broke the story of a heated discussion about the missing keys at the meeting of the temple management committee on the same day when the keys were reported missing. As per the minutes of the meeting revealed by the news channel, Gajapati Dib­y­asingh Deb, the ‘first servitor’ of the temple, expressed his unhappiness over the shoddy handling of the affair.

The inquiry commission headed by Justice Raghubir Das, a retired judge of the Orissa High Court, submitted its 324-page final report to the government on November 30, 2018, well ­before its six-month deadline. And there the matter has rested ever since. The report is yet to be placed in the assembly and no one knows what it contains or what act­ion has been taken on its recommendations. “The inquiry report has been submitted to the ­government, which will decide on what action is to be taken,” says Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) chief administrator Pradipta Mohapatra, on being asked about the report. But aren’t six months enough for the government to act on an issue that has left millions of Lord Jagannath devotees fuming?

The absence of action has spawned speculation that the bulk of the jewellery inside the temple had been ­pilfered over the years by an unholy nexus of temple officials and servitors. And such speculation has a basis—the last time the Ratna Bhandar was ­inspected and an inventory made was way back in 1978, even though the Jagannath Temple Act, 1960, stipulates the opening of the treasure trove every six months and the preparation of an inventory every three years.

The temple ­administration has not tried to see whether the ‘duplicate’ keys can open the chamber gates.
Moreover, the temple administration has made no attempt to find whether the ‘duplicate’ keys can open the Ratna Bhandar gates, strengthening the suspicion of pilferage. In any case, nothing stops it from breaking open the locks and taking stock of the wealth. The whole thing would have remained under wraps had it not been for a high court order asking the temple administration to take stock of the physical condition of the storehouse. On April 4 last year, armed with the order, a 17-member team comprising officials of the temple ­administration, the state government and the Archeological Survey of India, led by the then SJTA chief adm­inistrator Pradeep Jena, had gone with a bunch of keys, but mysteriously returned without entering the room. “The team did not feel the need to go in since we were able to assess the condition of the structure from outside with the help of searchlights,” Jena had told waiting journalists after the team came out. The explanation convinced no one.

“Why didn’t the team go in?” asks Srikumar Shukla, a Puri-based lawyer and journalist. “After all, it was ­on the high court’s order that they were to enter the Ratna Bhandar. Not sure if the keys they were carrying would open the locks, they had also carried gas cutters to break them open. It does appear rather strange that the team made no attempt to enter the premises or even inform the high court about it.”

A year down the line, several questions remain unanswered. Where did the ‘duplicate’ keys come from when retired temple officials and Jagannath cult exp­erts aver that there was no provision for any ­duplicate keys in the Temple Act? And why were they found in the record room of the district collectorate instead of the strong room in the district treasury where they are supposed to be? And why is the government sitting on the inquiry report instead of ­making it public and acting on it?

In the absence of any answers, either by the temple administration or the state government, the field has been left wide open for all kinds of spec­ulation. Most people in Odisha are now convinced that the state government is reluctant to enter the Ratna Bhandar and do a much needed stocktaking ­because it knows the bulk of the jewellery has gone missing.

Since no inventory has been made for over four decades now, no one knows the size of the temple wealth. But even the most conservative estimate by those in the know puts the figure at several hundred crores. “Top jewellers from Mumbai and Gujarat had been inv­ited to assess the value of the ornaments during the reign of the Gajapati king, but they failed to put a figure to it as they had never before seen some of the rare diamonds they found inside. You can guess the size of the wealth then,” Surendra Mishra, an expert on the Jagannath cult, had told Outlook when the controversy broke last year. Mishra ­believed that only a CBI inq­uiry would bring out the truth. But that is asking for too much from a state government that has been sitting over the ­inquiry report on the missing keys for over six months now.

(Source: Outlook)

Sprinter Dutee Chand becomes India's first openly gay athlete

Runner reveals she is in relationship with woman from her village in Odisha state

Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has revealed she is in a same-sex relationship, becoming the country’s first openly gay athlete.

Chand, 23, told the Indian Express she was in a relationship with a woman from her village in eastern Odisha state, saying she found the courage to come out after India’s top court scrapped a colonial-era ban on gay sex last year.

In the interview, Chand said: “I have found someone who is my soulmate. I believe everyone should have the freedom to be with whoever they decide they want to be with. She said her focus was on upcoming international competitions, including the Olympics, but “in the future I would like to settle down with her”.

Dutee Chand said she found the courage to come out after India scrapped a ban on gay sex last year. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Despite slowly changing attitudes, same-sex relationships remain taboo in India. Chand said noone had the right to judge her as an athlete because of her sexual orientation, which was a personal decision that should be respected.

“I have always believed that everyone should have the freedom to love. There is no greater emotion than love and it should not be denied,” she said.

She did not reveal her partner’s identity to save her from undue attention.

Chand was praised on social media for her courage, with prominent Indian LGBT rights activist Harish Iyer calling her a “beacon of hope”. He tweeted: “@DuteeChand has paved the path for many, by simply standing up for herself.”

Like South African Olympic athlete Caster Semenya, Chand has hyperandrogenism, a condition that naturally produces high testosterone levels. She was previously barred from competing under International Association of Athletics Federations rules and subjected to abuse for being “unfeminine”.

But Chand won an appeal at the court of arbitration for sport (Cas) in 2015, paving the way for athletes with hyperandrogenism to compete in 100 metre and 200 metre races. The decision allowed her to run in the 2018 Asian Games, where she won two silver medals.

However, this month, the Cas rejected a similar appeal by Semenya against rules requiring middle-distance female athletes with a high testosterone level to take medication to reduce it. Chand told local media the ruling made her “very sad”.

(Source: The Guardian)

20 years before Cyclone Fani, Super Cyclone killed 10,000 in Odisha

As Cyclone Fani hammers Odisha, we take a look at the devastating 1999 Super Cyclone that left Orissa in tatters

It was a day of fatal miscalculations. A day when death and its nauseating stench was everywhere. A day when all hell broke loose and nobody knew what to do. All rested on hope. But that day, even hope died.

On October 29, 1999, a 'super cyclone' slammed into Odisha, then known as Orissa. Everyone knew the cyclone was coming. But, nobody knew how bad it was going to be.

State government officials had underestimated the super cyclone's intensity and had miscalculated its path. There were not enough cyclone shelters to protect Orissa's tens of thousands of people. And, the government machinery was mired in chaos and confusion.

The result? A death toll so high that thousands of bodies had to be "bulldozed into vast, faceless graves", according to an India Today report from 1999.

The 1999 Super Cyclone ranks among the worst natural disasters in India. Nearly 10,000 people died, according to official estimates. More than 3.5 lakh houses were destroyed, several villages were completely washed away, more than two lakh animals were killed and 25 lakh people were marooned.

So bad was the damage to Odisha's infrastructure that the state went out of contact with the rest of the world for an entire day.

WHAT HAPPENED?
Warnings about the cyclone were sounded at least two days before its landfall. Some efforts were made to evacuate people from harm's way.

However, there were two major challenges: The unwillingness among people to part with their life's belongings and the fact that there simply weren't enough cyclone shelters in Odisha then (the state had just 21 shelters, each with a capacity to accommodate 2,000 people).

And so it was that Odisha's people were mostly left to their own as the Super Cyclone drew near.

LANDFALL
The Super Cyclone made landfall in Paradip around noon on October 29, 1999. And, Odisha just fell apart.

The intensity of the catastrophic storm -- the cyclone came with winds of up to 260 kmph -- took everyone by surprise and a hapless government had no choice but to watch as the cyclone ripped Odisha apart.

The 1999 Super Cyclone set Odisha back years (Photo: India Today Archives)

What made matters worse was a fatal miscalculation made by government officials -- they had assumed that Bhubaneswar and Cuttack would not be hit.

However, the two cities too were severely battered by the Super Cyclone ruining whatever plan the state government had to tackle the storm and its aftermath.

WHEN ODISHA WENT SILENT
Meanwhile, at the chief minister's bungalow, CM Giridhar Gamang was furiously working the phones trying to get any and all aid he could muster.

Time was running out. The unusually long storm (most cyclones vent their fury within eight hours; the 1999 Super Cyclone's effects were felt for an entire day) was snapping power and communications links across Odisha. And, CM Gamang's home was not spared.

At 9 pm only two phones were working at Gamang's home. At 11 pm, only one. By midnight, it too went dead. And, Odisha's only link with the outside world was snapped, forcing the state to go incommunicado for the next two days.

AFTERMATH
The immediate aftermath of the Super Cyclone saw the same chaos seen before the storm hit Odisha. There were riots on the streets as famished people literally fought to get their hands on food.

The problem was exacerbated by the administration inexplicable strategy of dumping relief and aid in areas that were easily accessible even if they were not badly affected.

Help in the form of badly needed funds and relief material finally started coming in, first from the Centre and later from governments across the world.

A LESSON WELL LEARNT
In life, there are sometimes events or episodes that bring about a complete transformation in a person's character. For Odisha, the 1999 Super Cyclone was one such event.

In the years after the devastating cyclone, Odisha began building cyclone shelters on a war footing. In 1999, before the Super Cyclone struck, the Orissa had 21 shelters. Today, before Cyclone Fani struck, the state had readied nearly 900 cyclone shelters.

Odisha also set up the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority, which was the first such disaster management to bet set up in India.

Odisha was completely unprepared to deal with the 1999 Super Cyclone (Photo: India Today Archives)

Such has been Odisha's success in managing disasters effectively that the United Nations lauded the state in 2013 for its management of Cyclone Phailin, calling it a "landmark success story".

Odisha has vowed not to let the tragedy of 1999 repeat again. And going by even Cyclone Fani's death toll (under 10 as of writing this), the state looks set not to break that vow.

(Source: India Today)

Cyclone Fani: India mass evacuations as storm moves up coast

Thousands of people are being evacuated from villages along India's eastern coastline ahead of a severe cyclone.

Cyclone Fani is heading towards the state of Orissa with wind speeds in excess of 200 km/h (127 mph), and is expected to make landfall on Friday.

Officials have now shut down operations at two major ports on the east coast, and thousands of rescuers are helping people evacuate from low-lying areas.

Storm clouds gather over the Indian city of Visakhapatnam

Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states are also on high alert.

Officials told BBC Hindi that around 800,000 people are in the process of being evacuated. Nearly 100,000 of them will be evacuated from Puri, a city in Orissa, as authorities believe that this is where the storm will hit hardest. Puri is also home to the 858-year-old Jagannath temple - officials are also worried about the impact it could have on the historic building.

Meanwhile, all schools and universities in the state have shut.

Cyclone Fani will be the fourth storm to hit the country's east coast in the last three decades.

Orissa state is home to the 858-year-old historic Jagannath temple

In 2017, Cyclone Ockhi killed more than 200 people and displaced hundreds. In October of last year, officials in Orissa evacuated hundreds of thousands of people when another cyclone struck.

Which areas will be affected?
The cyclone is currently moving up the Bay of Bengal, east of Andhra Pradesh.

HR Biswas, director of the meteorological centre in Orissa's state capital, Bhubaneshwar, said at least 11 districts would be hit - and that they have "suggested people stay indoors".

India's National Disaster Management Authority has also warned people along the rest of India's east coast, especially fishermen, not to go out to sea because the conditions are "phenomenal".

The agency said the "total destruction of thatched houses" was possible, as well as "extensive damage" to other structures.

Once the cyclone has made landfall in north-eastern India, it is expected to move towards Chittagong in Bangladesh in a weaker form on Saturday.

The port city of Cox's Bazar, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees live in camps with minimal shelter, is also on alert.

Fishermen returning to shore in Konark after a yellow warning was issued for Orissa

In February the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) began distributing tarpaulins ahead of the region's "cyclone season" - but warned that if a deadly storm rolls in, shelters made of battered bamboo and shredded plastic would offer little protection.

How has India prepared?
Indian officials say they have set up more than 850 shelters, which are thought to be able to hold almost one million people.

The navy, the coast guard and the National Disaster Response Force have all been prepared for deployment. It has also stationed two ships with divers and doctors at the southern port cities of Vishakapatnam and Chennai (formerly Madras), an official told local media.

Local media report that about 81 trains travelling to and from coastal cities have been cancelled.

India's electoral commission has relaxed its rules about what the government can do during election periods so that the authorities can carry out relief work.

A satellite image shows Cyclone Fani intensifying in the Bay of Bengal

The country is in the middle of a multi-phased election which started last month.

Under normal circumstances the incumbent government has certain powers suspended, so that it can't announce new schemes or take new decisions during the voting period.

Although the election will continue until the end of May, Orissa has already voted.

(Source: BBC)

Cyclone Fani set to hit India on May 3, cause extensive damage

The approaching cyclonic storm Fani will hit the Indian coastline between Gopalpur and Chandbali, south of Puri, on the evening of May 3, the India Meteorological Department said in its latest bulletin.

Fani, which had already intensified into an "extremely severe cyclone", was expected to generate gusts of wind with speeds of up to 205 km per hour when it makes landfall, it said. Earlier forecasts had said that the landfall was likely on the morning of May 4, and that wind speeds at that time would be 170-180 km per hour.

On Tuesday (1730 hours), Fani was located about 730 km south-southwest of Puri. "It is very likely to move northwestwards till the noon of May 1 and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, to the south of Puri, around the afternoon of May 3 with maximum sustained wind of speed 175-185 kmph gusting to 205 kmph," the IMD bulletin said.

"Storm surge of about 1.5 metre height above astronomical tide is very likely to inundate low-lying areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha at the time of landfall." Wind speeds of around 200 km per hour could result in large-scale destruction in areas near the cyclone.

In a press statement on Tuesday, Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Padhi said the state is likely to be impacted the most by Fani.

Addressing journalists in an effort to counter panic, he said, "In the review of the cabinet secretary done today, it was revealed that the current movement suggests the maximum impact will be on Odisha and will cross the coast in Puri district… Rains will start on May 2. Evacuation will be done in low-lying areas to pucca structures, like school buildings. Mapping will be done." Odisha has requested two additional helicopters and extra National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, he added.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik met the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) to request for a delay in elections to Patkura Assembly constituency, which is in Kendrapara district.

Patkura's election, scheduled for Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha polls, was delayed after the death of BJD candidate Bed Prakash Agarwalla. The party has now nominated his wife, Sabitri Agarwalla.

The IMD said that extensive damage to all types of kuchcha houses and some damage to old and badly-managed pucca structures were expected in Ganjam, Gajapati, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinhpur districts of Odisha. It warned of potential threat from flying objects, extensive uprooting of communication and power poles, disruption of rail/road link, damage to standing crops and uprooting of large bushy trees.

Though the strength of the cyclone would be slightly less, similar damage could be expected in Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Balasore districts of Odisha, and in East and West Medinipur, South and North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hoogli and Kolkata districts of West Bengal, and in Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh, the IMD said.

Some places in northern coastal Andhra Pradesh, particularly Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram districts, and south coastal Odisha could receive heavy rainfall on May 2. The IMD said that extremely heavy rainfall, in excess of 20 cm, could be expected in isolated places in coastal Odisha and adjoining districts of interior Odisha on May 3, and in north Odisha on May 4.

Coastal districts of West Bengal were also likely to heavy rainfall on May 3 while Gangetic West Bengal could expect extremely heavy rainfall the next day.

(Source: Yahoo News)

Finally, Bengal wins 'Rosogolla war' over Odisha

The legal battle between Bengal and Odisha over Rosogolla finally came to an end after Geographical Identification registration was given to West Bengal.

The two states, Bengal and Odisha, had entered the fray to stake their claim on the dessert for far too long.

According to reports, they provided all documents claiming that Rosogolla was their discovery, however after months of legal battle and referring to history, the GI tag was given to Bengal.

Pahala rasagolas from Odisha and Bengali rasgullas 

GI authentication is a name or sign used on certain products which correspond to a specific geographical location or origin which may act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods, or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.

Ever since both the governments asked for a Geographical Indication in 2015, the sweet had found itself at the centre of an interesting tug of war with West Bengal claiming it was invented by a Calcutta confectioner Nabin Chandra Das also known as the “Columbus of Rossogolla”.

Odisha said the sweet item was invented in the holy city of Puri way back in the 13th century, however, Bengal won the "battle for Rosogolla".

(Source: WION)  

Odisha woman brutally raped and murdered in Kerala, but who cares?

Is the deafening silence of the civil society in Kerala another instance of its attitude towards labourers from other states? 

When the death of 30-year-old Sabitha Maji was reported from the tea garden town of Peerumedu in Idukki on Sunday, there were suspicions that it was a murder. But the police on Wednesday revealed that it was a gruesome rape and murder case in which the sex perverts did not even spare the dead body.

Though the shocking incident is a reminder that women are no longer safe in Kerala, despite all the assurances and after those whirlwind campaigns that followed Jisha murder last year, nobody seems to care about the plight of the hapless woman from Odisha.  Apparently, no one is shocked. No protests, not even press releases deploring the murder!

Maji, a native of Odisha who was a working at a private tea garden in Peerumedu, had 58 cuts in her body, most of them inflicted by a sharp machete. The autopsy report revealed that she was also subjected to brutal rape.

The police had arrested two tea garden workers, one from Odisha and the other a Srilankan Tamil in connection with the murder. Interrogation brought out the real horrors.

The suspects told police that they had nursed a grudge towards Maji and struck her down with a machete while she was collecting woods on Sunday. They repeatedly hit her on head till she fell down, bleeding. Then the men dragged her into the shrubs and preyed on her body. Before hiding the body in a thicket, they stabbed her several times on the chest and abdomen to ensure that she was indeed dead.

The suspects told the police that Maji had protested their sexual advances several times before. And that they were waiting for a chance.

The blood samples collected from the scene of murder matched with that of the suspects. Detailed investigation is on to collect all possible evidences, according to police.

The murder of the Odisha woman brought back the horrors of Jisha murder that created uproar in the state last year. Jisha, a Dalit law student from Perumbavoor, was found brutally raped and murdered in her home in April 2016. Her body bore the 36 injuries. The police arrested an Assamese labourer in the case after 50 days. The murder took place during the day and inside her home had raised many questions over the safety of women in the state.

Is the deafening silence of the civil society in Kerala another instance of its attitude towards labourers from other states who are often termed as ‘bhais’ or ‘migrants.’

Well, these labourers, who are destined to be called migrants in their own country, are always the ‘other’ for us.

(Source: Asianet news)