Poor man's family ostracised for not giving lavish 'feast' after son's death

Raipur: In 2016, Santan Nirmalkar lost his 20-year-old son to a road accident. Santan, a resident Chhattisgarh's Mungeli district is still reeling with the shock. However, his young son was not the only one he lost that year. Ever since the tragedy, Santan and his family members have been ostracised by villagers.

After suffering a social boycott for nearly three years, the resident of Ghatoli Para in Mungeli has decided to lodge a police complaint in this regard.

In his statement to the police, Santan has alleged that his family is being ostracised because they failed to 'host a feast' for everyone in the village at the time of his son's death. Husband to a wife and father to five children, Santan further claims that economic distress did not allow him to feed everyone in the village in 2016 as is common practice in that part of Chhattisgarh.

According to a report, Santan has accused villagers of treating him and his family members like 'untouchables'. A grocer who sells us vegetables in the case of an emergency is chided by locals and the same happens with anyone who talks to us, said Santan. Not just social commitments, but this boycott has led made it difficult for Santan to earn a livelihood and feed his family. He claims that neither he nor his wife have been able to find jobs and have to be completely dependent on a neighbouring village for their daily needs.

As unfortunate as it sounds, Santan and his family are not the only ones who have been socially ostracised for bizarre reasons in  Chhattisgarh. An activist suggests that there are more than 25,000 families living in the state under similar circumstances. These instances indicate that there is a need for the state's policymakers and law enforcement departments to initiate sensitization campaigns aimed at reducing social stigma that can make life difficult for innocent families.

In July of this year, police in Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh registered a case against locals for allegedly ostracising members of a family after they failed to follow popular rituals during their son's wedding. The complainant, in this case, was a resident of Tomgaun village. In his complaint, Ramesh Kumar Nirmalkar had stated that he was forced to pay a fine of ₹2100 by fellow villagers for failing to conduct his son's wedding in accordance with local customs. 

In July of this year, police in Mahasamund district of Chhattisgarh registered a case against locals for allegedly ostracising members of a family after they failed to follow popular rituals during their son's wedding. The complainant, in this case, was a resident of Tomgaun village. In his complaint, Ramesh Kumar Nirmalkar had stated that he was forced to pay a fine of ₹21,000 by fellow villagers for failing to conduct his son's wedding in accordance with local customs. He was also made to host a 'feast' for village elders as compensation for upsetting them.