An upper caste family has been denied access to wells and shops in an Orissa village after their daughter married a Dalit man, the distraught family said Thursday.’(Villagers) are not allowing us to draw water from the village well and tube wells for the past one month. We are forced to depend on the water of a polluted pond,’ lamented Mayadhar Sahoo, father of 20-year-old Sabita.

All four shops in Badman village in Jajpur district, around 120 km from Bhubaneshwar, have refused to sell essential commodities to the Sahoo household following pressure from the villagers.’We are being forced to trek three kilometres to purchase essential goods,’ said Malati, Sabita’s mother.Sabita Sahoo broke age-old caste barrier by marrying Dilip Mallik, a Dalit of the same village, in a temple last month.

Although her family was opposed to the marriage and did not attend their wedding, villagers held a meeting and decided to ostracise the Sahoos, according to the girl’s father.’After she got married, the villagers told us to perform a death ritual for our daughter. When we refused, they started discriminating against us,’ the farmer said.The villagers are not bothered about law.’Sabita has tainted the status of the upper caste people by marrying a Dalit,’ said Raghunandan Dash, a villager.’Since she is ‘dead’ for us, her family must perform death rituals. Unless and until they do that, we will continue to boycott them,’ he asserted.

The local Dalit Manch has written to the National Human Rights Commission, the state Human Rights Commission, the chief minister and the governor, urging them to take action against the erring villagers.

Source: Indiaenews