Puri: An elderly couple from Dalit community in Brahmagiri block, Puri district of Odisha, Eastern India, who were ostracised and driven away from their home 15 years ago, has written to the President of India seeking permission to end their lives.
The couple—Bhim and Tara—has been residing in a makeshift hut on a cremation ground near Brahmagiri block office for last several years.
According to sources, locals had ostracised the couple’s family and forced them to leave the village after their two grandsons bathed in a community pond in 2002.
The Dalit family had later tried to settle on a farmland outside the village. However, the villagers had torched their thatched house and warned them of dire consequences if they would not leave the farmland.
“We have been taking shelter in a hut on the cremation ground since 2003. Our two sons and their families are now spending a life of exile here and there,” rued Bhim.
The couple claimed that they had narrated their plight to Brahmagiri police and district administration but no action has been taken in this regard. Moreover, they had written to the Odisha Governor, Chief Minister and the National Human Rights Commission seeking their intervention on the issue. However, no one did come to their rescue.
“We do not have money to arrange food and medicine for us. We have urged the President of India to allow us to end our lives,” said Bhim.