Retired Odisha Professor faces social ostracism due to son's inter-caste marriage

A retired professor has been allegedly socially ostracized because his son married someone from a different caste in Puintala of Bolangir district. 

Professor Manmohan Sai, who was the principal at Patnagarh Jawaharlal College, now finds himself leading a solitary life as the villagers distance themselves from him due to his son Soumyaranjan's marriage to a Marathi woman.

Soumyaranjan is an engineer and is currently working in Bengaluru. Back home, Soumyaranjan’s parents are leading a solitary life due to social boycott.

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“A meeting was held in the village and I was questioned regarding my son’s marriage. I was told that there was pressure from the central committee to boycott my family. I had met the president of the local committee and he set some conditions before me to include my family in society,” alleged Manmohan.

It is alleged that Manmohan has been restricted from participating in social functions such as purification rituals and weddings, as per the diktat of the caste elders. 

Despite appealing to the district president of the 84-house Agharia community, Manmohan was told that to be reintegrated, he would have to symbolically disown his living son by performing a ritual akin to a funeral and pay a penalty. As Manmohan did not agree to such illegal conditions, his family has been isolated.

The president Subhranshu Patel, despite having issued a notice earlier, now claims ignorance of the situation. Manmohan's neighbours, fearful of social repercussions, are also ignoring his family in any community activities.

“I am hearing such thing from media. Anyone can make a writing pad and write anything on it. Our organisation is engaged in purely social work. What can we do if anyone is making such allegations? It is their family issue,” said Patel.

The Bolangir SDPO assured that there will be an investigation into this practice of social ostracism, which is described as a regressive tradition. 

“We have not received any complaint in connection with the incident. We will conduct an investigation and take action as per law,” said Bolangir SDPO, Pradip Kumar Sahu.