Caught in a cast-bound conflict and ostracization in their native village for inter-caste marriage, 2 defence personnel, both siblings, have moved the National Human Rights Commission seeking redressal of injustice meted out by them.
Hailing from Kalamba village under Polsara police station jurisdiction of Ganjam district, the cousin brothers are, incidentally, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy officers. Ironically, they have lost the battle against the evils of the age-old caste system in their native places.
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“We have been served ostracization order by the village committee as we committed the mistake of breaching the caste barrier and marrying women outside their caste,” said Arbind Kumar Pradhan, IAF officer, who is from Balasi caste group.
Pradhan and his cousin brother Binay Kumar Pradhan, an Indian Navy Officer, recently got married. Marrying girls from Khandayat caste, they infringed the rules of caste system prevailing in the village. Inter-caste marriage is a taboo and is an act of impropriety in the village.
He said, “we are bearing the brunt of rigid and complex caste systems. Life has become a hell for us. Our relatives have been stopped from visiting us. We are unwanted in our own birthplace. It is a cursed life as the entire village has severed social ties. We are not invited to any of the village functions.”
“We are running from pillar to post- right from the local police station to government officials. But the exercises have ended in futility. It really haunts us as we are branded ‘unwanted’ in the society,” he added.
