Dhabir Oli, 66, of Chunbang-4 of the district, gave away his widowed daughter-in-law Kharkamali in marriage to Manbir Oli of neighboring Mahat-8 in February. [break]
Kharkamali´s first husband Man Bahadur Oli, Dhabir´s son, had died of stomach ailment around 12 years ago. She had been staying with her elderly in-laws raising her 13-year-old son Prithvi Bahadur.
“She was taking good care of her in-laws but they still got her married to another man. The society is now ostracizing them for such a noble deed,” lamented Kharkamali´s father Prasad Khadka.
Dhabir had got his daughter-in-law married to Manbir and asked the newly weds to stay at his home. But the society threw the newly weds out of Dhabir´s house and barred them from the village. The elderly couple is now living alone as even the blood relatives have boycotted the duo for ´soiling the ancestors´ history´.
The villagers contend that keeping daughter-in-law handed over to another person in marriage as per Hindu tradition in one´s own home tantamount to keeping her as a wife. The villagers even took the elderly to the local Chunbang Police to lodge a complaint of blasphemy.
Though the police acquitted the old couple and sent them home, they have not been able to bring back the newly weds to live with them.
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