Balangir, Feb 9: In another incident of community prejudice, a family in Balangir district faced difficulties in cremating a member's dead body as nobody from their caste cooperated because a daughter of the family married a boy of another caste three years ago following a love relationship between them.

The ostracization was reported from Bhutei Baharl village in the district. Budu Parabhue (54) been staying with his wife and two children- a son and a daughter- for long. Three years ago, his daughter tied the knot with a boy of another caste following a love relationship. After that, the Parabhue community ostracized the family.

Once, community leaders held a meeting in front of the house only to ask the family to give a meet feast and Rs 20,000 to be in the caste and get cooperation. The family went by the community's decision. However, the community ostracized the family again after the daughter came to see her ailing father.

On Sunday morning, Budu Parabhe passed away following an illness. But nobody from the community came to help take the body to the crematorium ground. The mother-son duo waited for seven hours, but nobody came to give the shoulder. Amid anxieties, the family, however, got relief as a team of the 'Maheswari Sangathan' a voluntary organization based at Bolangir, informed by a local woman, came forward and carried the body to the nearby riverbed and cremated the body with all rituals.

"It is disappointing that families are being ostracized because of inter-caste marriages of grown-up children. In case of deaths of such ostracized family members, voluntary organizations conduct funeral rituals. It is disheartening that local administrations sit silent over these superstitition issues," said a member of the voluntary organization.

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