Bhubaneswar: Caste discrimination runs so deep in the society that it does not even spare the dead and one such incident was reported from Khatiguda village under Tentulikhunti block in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district, where a son had to wait for 11 long hours to cremate his mother as villagers refused to lend a shoulder to the deceased over her daughter’s inter-caste marriage.
According to sources, Lakhmi Patral, a widow, died while undergoing treatment at a hospital. Her daughter, Jammuna, left after the body reached the village. Her son then requested villagers to help him carry the body to the cremation ground to perform her last rites, but they declined. The villagers told him that they would not carry the body since the daughter of the family got married to a man of lower caste.
The mortal remains of the woman were finally consigned to the flames with the help of former Zilla Parishad member Sada Zani and some social workers. “We ensured that the woman got a proper funeral,” Zani told the media.
