Odisha: Adivasi couple tied to yoke, forced to plough farm as ‘punishment'

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5 hours ago

A man and a woman in Odisha's Rayagada district were tied to a yoke and forced to plough a farm like bullocks by villagers who accused them of being in a relationship considered taboo as per Adivasi customs, The Hindu reported.
The incident occurred in the Kangaramjodi village in the Kalyansinghpur block on Wednesday. Visuals of the incident were shared widely on social media on Friday.
#VIDEO | Villagers Object To Marriage, Couple Tied To Yoke Like Oxen, Made To Plough Field pic.twitter.com/KjFr4Q3cKq
— NDTV (@ndtv) July 11, 2025
Villagers identified the couple as a 32-year-old man and his father's cousin sister, and said that the two are roughly the same age, The Indian Express reported. The locals said that as per Adivasi customs, marriage in the same clan is prohibited, and that the relationship was taboo as it was between an aunt and a nephew.
There had earlier reportedly been rumours about their relationship, and villagers recently caught them in a compromising position.
'After much deliberation, it was decided that the couple would be subjected to the 'plough punishment' – a traditional form of justice in our community,' The Hindu quoted Biswanath Kurshika, a village elder, as saying. 'Had we pardoned them for such blasphemy, our deity would have cursed the village.'
After the man and woman were tied to a yoke and made to till a farm, they were taken to a shrine and made to undergo 'purification rituals' to wash away their 'sins', villagers said. The locals added that the couple were then beaten up and driven out of the village, The Indian Express reported.
The couple were reportedly given a token amount of Rs 1,000 before they were expelled.
After the video went viral, police officials on Friday visited the village to assess the situation, and to discuss the matter with locals. The Rayagada district administration said that it will carry out an inquiry into the incident.