Newly-Married Couple Subjected to Inhumane Punishment in Odisha Village

Odisha, July 12, 2025 : A newly-married couple in Odisha’s Rayagada district was subjected to a humiliating and inhumane punishment by villagers for marrying against traditional societal norms. A disturbing video, which has since gone viral on social media, shows the couple being tied to a yoke like oxen and forced to plough a field.

The couple had recently wed, defying local customs, as the man is reportedly the son of the woman’s paternal aunt – a relationship considered taboo according to the village's traditional beliefs.

In the viral footage, villagers can be seen fastening a makeshift wooden yoke – typically used to harness bullocks – onto the couple's shoulders. Constructed from bamboo and logs, the crude apparatus was then used to force the pair to drag a plough through a field in full public view. Several villagers watched the ordeal unfold but failed to intervene, remaining silent spectators.

Following the public humiliation, the couple was taken to the village shrine, where they were reportedly subjected to “purification rituals” – a symbolic act meant to cleanse what the community viewed as a “forbidden union”.

The incident has sparked outrage among human rights activists and social organisations, who have condemned the act as “barbaric” and “a gross violation of individual freedoms”. Many have called for immediate and stringent legal action against those responsible.

Social media users have also expressed their shock and anger, drawing comparisons to Taliban-style punishments and demanding justice for the couple.

Local police have launched an investigation into the matter.

Source: India Today

Download Catholic Connect App for Daily News Updates:

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.catholic.connect

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/in/app/catholic-connect/id6466264667