India, June 25 -- The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognisance of a media report that the family of a Scheduled Tribe woman was boycotted socially by the villagers after she married a Scheduled Caste man in Odisha.

Reportedly, the villagers demanded a purification ritual if the family of the woman wanted to be accepted back into the community and were threatened with an indefinite boycott in case they refused to comply with the ritual.

The family members of the woman succumbed to the diktat of the villagers, and as a part of the ritual, the heads of 40 members of her family were tonsured.

The incident was reported from Baiganguda village of the Kashipur block of Rayagada district.

Taking note of the news...