Man ostracised for marrying low caste girl

By Our Correspondent

Kathmandu, July 3: A young man of Bastipur of Sindhuli district has been humiliated and ostracised by his family and community for marrying a girl of a lower caste.

Kamal Karki, a kshetri, married Bimala Nepali, a girl of the damai (tailor) caste, on June 3. But since then, he has been living with his wife's parents because his father with not allow him into his house.

He said that even his friends and others will not let him into their houses because 'he married an untouchable'. But he says he will not give up.

He said he married his childhood sweetheart because he wanted to start a campaign against caste discrimination, but the conservative society refused to accept this. Rather they banished me from the society.

Kamal was abandoned by his mother for another man when he was only 15 days old, and it was his father who brought him up. Now, the father, too, has refused to let him in. The father, Mahabir Karki, said, "I have refused to let them in because of the social stigma. But they can build a house on my land and live there separately."

Despite they becoming an outcast, the newly married couple has no intention of parting.

Bimala said they have been in love since they were in school, and now they are in the process of legalizing their marriage.

They have come to the district headquarters to make their citizenship certificates. They said they would register their marriage in the Village Development Committee.

Jit Bahadur Pariyar, a nominated member from the dalit (lower caste) community to the District Development Committee said Kamal and Bimala have the right to live as other members of the society.

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