Parents Perform Daughter’s Last Rites For Marrying Outside Caste In Odisha’s Gajapati

Bhubaneswar: Distraught with a girl’s marriage outside the caste, the family members performed her last rites in Odisha’s Gajapati on Tuesday.

According to sources, Chandini, daughter of Sahadev Sahoo of Chandiput village under Mohana block in the district had gone missing from the house on Saturday night. They enquired from her friends and their relatives but failed to find her. Later, they filed a missing case in the police station.

On Monday, they came to know that Chandini had got married to a youth of another caste of the same village. The family members were not only saddened by her action but also felt humiliated as her engagement was scheduled to be held with a boy of their caste.

“We had no idea about her affair with the boy. She also did not say about her relationship with him even after the engagement. I am not as much sorry for her marriage outside the cast as for getting married without informing any of us,” said her sister.

Her father Sahadev said, “The entire family and all the villagers love Chandini. We brought her up with care and affection. She is an educated girl. We had fixed her marriage with her willingness. We would have performed her engagement today. I don’t know why she took such step.”

“By marrying outside the caste without our knowledge, she has not only humiliated the family but also our entire community. The pain she has inflicted is unbearable. Her action forced us to think that she is dead for which we performed her last rites so that she lives peacefully wherever she wants,” he added.

In a similar case on September 8, the parents of girl in Aul of Kendrapada district performed her last rites after she married a youth against their wish.

Also Read: Odisha Girl Marries Against Parents’ Wish: They Perform Her ‘Shraadh’