Kin refuse to cremate man over marriage in Odisha

SAMBALPUR: The body of a 55-year-old man remained unattended for around 18 hours in Kanchanpur village, after relatives and villagers refused to carry it for cremation because the man had married a woman of another caste.
When no one came forward, members of Sambal, a social organization cremated the body of Santosh Dehury with the consent of his wife, Manika Naik. Dehury had married Naik, 10 years ago. While Santosh belongs to the Gond caste, his wife is a Jhara. The couple has an eight-year-old daughter.
“When I got the news of his death, I went there and requested the members of the caste and villagers to perform Dehury’s last rites. But neither the relatives nor villagers agreed to do so. Finding no way out, I contacted members of Sambal and requested them to cremate the body,” said sarpanch of Girishchandrapur gram panchayat Subhendra Pradhan.
A member of Sambal, Ramdas Panda said, “We were informed about the death by the sarpanch late in the night on Sunday. We went to the village on Monday morning with a hearse van and brought the body to Rajghat in Sambalpur for cremation. A large number of people had gathered near the body when we reached there. However, no one came near the body,” he said.
In a written application to Sambal, Naik stated that her husband died at 4 pm on Sunday. “However, since I belong to another caste, no one is coming forward to lend shoulder to the body of my husband. Hence, I request the members of Sambal to cremate the body of my husband,” she wrote in the letter.