In a rare move to protect human rights of people subjected to hereditary bondage, Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has decided to become an intervener in a civil court case.
The dispute pertained to revolt by two barber community families in Odisha’s Puri district where they refused cut hair of fellow villagers and clean food leftovers in community feasts in lieu of annual compensation of 15 kg of rice, known as ‘Bartan System’.
For ages, families of Purnachandra Barik and Kelu Charan Barik had been residing on a piece of land recorded in the name of deity and other villagers in Manpur village under Brahmagiri police station of Puri district. They were rendering service as hair cutters for possession of the land.
