PATNA: It's said that marriages are made in heaven. But for newly-wed Sushant Jasu, life has been made hell by his father Siddhnath Sharma who, angered by his son's intercaste marriage, has filed a Rs 1 crore defamation suit against him in Danapur civil court, near Patna, Bihar.
"I am hurt, deeply hurt," Sharma, an advocate, said of his son's marriage which took place on November 19, 2013 in Gujarat. "This stupid boy has destroyed our 400-year-old and 16 generation long family tradition of marrying in own caste. I can't forgive him. The family tradition is bigger than a son whose act has defamed me," says Sharma. Jasu, who works for the central government as a senior tax assistant in Gujarat's Palampur town, is an upper caste Bhumihar. His wife, who works in a private bank and is also a resident of Danapur, is a Kurmi, a lower landowning caste that falls in the creamy layer among backward castes and to which Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar too belongs.
His case, which has received international attention, is a crushing blow to the Bihar government's attempts to encourage intercaste marriage. They are still largely considered taboo and those who do it face hostility from their families and society. Casteism is deep-rooted and nothing moves forward without taking caste into consideration, be it contesting election, marriage or even shopping for marriage, where people prefer making purchases from sellers of their caste, wherever it is possible.
Social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah said that while honour killings, widely reported in UP and Haryana, are not common in Bihar, couples have been threatened, tortured and even ostracized by their community. In an earlier instance, another father in Patna belonging to the same caste as Sharma was so enraged that his son, an IIT engineer, decided to marry a girl from a backward caste that he asked his son to make down payment of Rs 50 lakh to him as "tilak". The son took a loan to pay the "extortion" money to his father, who then blessed the couple.
Amanullah's department is also offering cash incentives, but to couples who marry out of caste. While earlier the amount was Rs 25,000, she has recently petitioned for it to be doubled to Rs 50,000 to increase its effectiveness. But retired Bihar cadre IAS officer A K Biswas says the scheme hasn't taken off, largely due to the hostile attitudes of educated men like Sharma. "Sharma has not only acted against his adult son's right to choose a life-partner of his choice but has also traumatized and shocked him by instituting a case for compensation of a hundred million of rupees," he says.
Biswas, who also served as vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Bihar, recalls how during Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's time, a Maithili Brahmin, working as peon in the Darbhanga collectorate, was suspended for marrying a Dusadh (dalit caste) girl. He was eventually dismissed from service, though the couple was happily married with children. The media enthusiastically campaigned in favour of the couple in the face of stiff opposition from the local orthodox Brahmin community.
The peon even went to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister, but despite his intervention, the Bihar government could not reinstate him. Jagannath Mishra was the then chief minister.
"Caste operates against brotherhood and breeds contempt for others. Today Sharma has demonstrated how far caste can disgrace even a father," says Biswas.
Ironically, Sharma claims he is not against intercaste marriages per se, but refuses to accept that his only son married out of caste. The lawyer, who also claims to be poet and writer, has not only disowned Jasu but warned him against using the family name Sharma. Pleading his own case, Sharma has proposed a solution to his predicament, asking his son to obtain the written consent of his present wife for him to marry a second wife, one from the same caste, who can live with Sharma and his wife and fulfill the role of their daughter-in-law.
"This will soothe my ruffled feeling and I will get my right," he says.
The civil court in Danapur has held four hearings of Sharma's case, a first of its kind, and will decide on February 1 whether the case is admissible or not. Sharma stands alone in his battle - his wife and other close family members not only attended Jasu's wedding but gave their blessings to the couple. Sharma has been unmoved by their pleas, stating, "I want to ignite a national debate on sons going for intercaste marriage by trampling on the sentiments of their parents."
However social scientist Shaibal Gupta believes men like Sharma are a dying breed. Resistance notwithstanding, intercaste marriages are taking place in Bihar and steadily increasing in number. "Bihar is a liberated society. There are contradictions between castes but normally they don't translate into overt antagonism," he states.
"I am hurt, deeply hurt," Sharma, an advocate, said of his son's marriage which took place on November 19, 2013 in Gujarat. "This stupid boy has destroyed our 400-year-old and 16 generation long family tradition of marrying in own caste. I can't forgive him. The family tradition is bigger than a son whose act has defamed me," says Sharma. Jasu, who works for the central government as a senior tax assistant in Gujarat's Palampur town, is an upper caste Bhumihar. His wife, who works in a private bank and is also a resident of Danapur, is a Kurmi, a lower landowning caste that falls in the creamy layer among backward castes and to which Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar too belongs.
His case, which has received international attention, is a crushing blow to the Bihar government's attempts to encourage intercaste marriage. They are still largely considered taboo and those who do it face hostility from their families and society. Casteism is deep-rooted and nothing moves forward without taking caste into consideration, be it contesting election, marriage or even shopping for marriage, where people prefer making purchases from sellers of their caste, wherever it is possible.
Social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah said that while honour killings, widely reported in UP and Haryana, are not common in Bihar, couples have been threatened, tortured and even ostracized by their community. In an earlier instance, another father in Patna belonging to the same caste as Sharma was so enraged that his son, an IIT engineer, decided to marry a girl from a backward caste that he asked his son to make down payment of Rs 50 lakh to him as "tilak". The son took a loan to pay the "extortion" money to his father, who then blessed the couple.
Amanullah's department is also offering cash incentives, but to couples who marry out of caste. While earlier the amount was Rs 25,000, she has recently petitioned for it to be doubled to Rs 50,000 to increase its effectiveness. But retired Bihar cadre IAS officer A K Biswas says the scheme hasn't taken off, largely due to the hostile attitudes of educated men like Sharma. "Sharma has not only acted against his adult son's right to choose a life-partner of his choice but has also traumatized and shocked him by instituting a case for compensation of a hundred million of rupees," he says.
Biswas, who also served as vice-chancellor of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University in Bihar, recalls how during Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's time, a Maithili Brahmin, working as peon in the Darbhanga collectorate, was suspended for marrying a Dusadh (dalit caste) girl. He was eventually dismissed from service, though the couple was happily married with children. The media enthusiastically campaigned in favour of the couple in the face of stiff opposition from the local orthodox Brahmin community.
The peon even went to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister, but despite his intervention, the Bihar government could not reinstate him. Jagannath Mishra was the then chief minister.
"Caste operates against brotherhood and breeds contempt for others. Today Sharma has demonstrated how far caste can disgrace even a father," says Biswas.
Ironically, Sharma claims he is not against intercaste marriages per se, but refuses to accept that his only son married out of caste. The lawyer, who also claims to be poet and writer, has not only disowned Jasu but warned him against using the family name Sharma. Pleading his own case, Sharma has proposed a solution to his predicament, asking his son to obtain the written consent of his present wife for him to marry a second wife, one from the same caste, who can live with Sharma and his wife and fulfill the role of their daughter-in-law.
"This will soothe my ruffled feeling and I will get my right," he says.
The civil court in Danapur has held four hearings of Sharma's case, a first of its kind, and will decide on February 1 whether the case is admissible or not. Sharma stands alone in his battle - his wife and other close family members not only attended Jasu's wedding but gave their blessings to the couple. Sharma has been unmoved by their pleas, stating, "I want to ignite a national debate on sons going for intercaste marriage by trampling on the sentiments of their parents."
However social scientist Shaibal Gupta believes men like Sharma are a dying breed. Resistance notwithstanding, intercaste marriages are taking place in Bihar and steadily increasing in number. "Bihar is a liberated society. There are contradictions between castes but normally they don't translate into overt antagonism," he states.
No comments:
Post a Comment