Malkangiri: Regressive practices like untouchability and casetism continue to rear their ugly heads every now and then in Odisha. One such inhuman episode was reported from Nuaguda Village under Gobindapalli Panchayat in Khairaput Block of Malkangiri District.
According to sources, one 75-year-old widow, Kamala Chital had died. However, as Kamala’s son was engaged in manual scavenging, their family was ostracised earlier and following the widow’s death no villagers turned up for the funeral rites. After two days, a ward member of the panchayat, Subhranshu Paricha held discussions with the villagers following which they agreed to conduct the funeral.
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“Because my father was engaged in cleaning sewer and manual scavenging, no one cooperated in conducting the funeral rites of my grandmother,” said the grandson or the deceased Rabindra.