KENDRAPADA: A 19-year-old girl was beaten up and tied to a tree by residents of her village for being in a lesbian relationship, in

on Friday. Sarmila Malla, daughter of Rabindra Malla and a resident of Chandol, has been seeing a girl of the same village for the past six months. While there was anger among the villagers over what they termed her 'immoral' activities, matters came to a head on Friday when Sarmila was found sharing a bed with her partner on Thursday night.

"We beat up and tied Sarmila to a tree in our village as she is a lesbian. She is immoral and has besmirched the name of our village," said Ganesh Parida, a resident of Chandol.

On Saturday, the traumatised girl recounted the events of the previous day. "I was dragged out of my house by my neighbours. They beat me up and tied me to a tree. They abused and kicked me when my parents tried to rescue me," Sarmila said. "We are madly in

love

with each other," she added.

Not all were party to the crime. Some, like Chandol resident Ranjan Parida, could only watch helplessly as the teenager was punished. "Though she was not badly injured, I was appalled at what I saw," he said. Some villagers informed police who reached Chandol and untied the girl.

"We have registered a case against some villagers. The attackers can face up to seven years in prison. During interrogation, we found that both the girls are in a relationship, which was being opposed by the villagers," SDPO , Prakash Chandra Pal, said.

The incident comes days after sprint queen

(23) of Gopalpur village in Jajpur district declared that she was in a same-sex relationship and wanted to settle down with her partner.