Date:01/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/01/stories/2007090155871001.htm

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Appalling

This refers to the report that four persons, including three women, were beheaded allegedly by a group of villagers in Balasore, Orissa, because they suspected them of practising sorcery. The incident reveals the satanic face of cruelty in the name of superstition. It is the height of torture by human beings of fellow humans. That the macabre incident took place in the presence of over 100 villagers shows the lack of awareness among them. We claim that our country is one of the fastest growing economies of the world. But are we really progressing?

Maninder Dabas,

Dhenkanal

The grisly news of the beheading — so soon after the gruesome incident of mob and police torture of a ‘petty thief’ in Bhagalpur — makes one wonder whether there is any law in force at all. The impunity with which such acts take place shows the scant respect the perpetrators of heinous crimes have for our police and the judicial system. Those responsible for these horrid acts should be swiftly brought to book and handed exemplary punishment if we are not to be labelled as a primitive society.

C.P. Srinivasan,

Edina, Minneapolis