The body of a 75-year-old widow in Odisha could not be cremated for two days as villagers had ostracised the family because her son was doing manual scavenging despite being a Kshatriya, an upper caste. The villagers relented on Friday evening and allowed the cremation only after the family paid Rs 1000 for Mahaprasad from Puri’s famous Jagannath temple to purge the so-called sin. The villagers refused to carry the body of Kamala Chital to the cremation ground as they had socially boycotted the family seven years ago. After Kamala died, her daughter-in-law and grandson Rabindra Chital pleaded with the villagers to help them carry the body to cremation ground. The villagers had ostracised the woman for marrying a tribal.

Source: Hindustan Times December 30, 2017 10:07 UTC