The family of Gadadhara Sahoo of Kumutipatna in Puri district was ostracised for allowing his son to marry a girl from lower caste. Even, the village committee has imposed ban on the family’s entry to temples.
Harassed by the villagers, Sahoo has urged the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) to intervene in the issue and to take necessary steps to inquire into it as it relates to human rights violation.
On behalf of the Sahoo family, social activist Dr Pravas Acharya lodged a complaint with the commission with a prayer to help the family.
In the complaint, Acharya stated that Sahoo’s software engineer son Chittaranjan had married bank emplyee Chinmayee Behera on February 9, 2015. As Chinmayee belongs to Scheduled Caste, his father had intimated this to the community before marriage.
First, the community demanded money. Even if the family agreed to pay the penalty for the inter-caste marriage, later the villagers had a meeting and boycotted the Vedic marriage held at the Swami Narayan Mandir at Chakratirtha Road in Puri.
later, on the Sital Sasthi day, the village committee imposed ban on the Sahoo family against entry to the Mangala Mandir and the Banambar Shiva Mandir located at Kumutipatna.
The committee on May 19 evening took a decision in presence of a good gathering to disallow the family from offering Prasad to the god.
Sahoo and his wife Parvati, both senior citizens, alleged that committee president Subas Nayak and villager Bharat Sahoo scolded them with abusive language.