The couple put up with a paternal aunt in Doti for one month and then for a few months with a sister in Gulariya. But since they don´t make any income, they are having a torrid time in Dhangadi. “Because we are unemployed, it is very difficult to survive here. We are managing somehow with the money sent by my father,” rues Bhul.
The family of the upper caste Mahara has threatened to kill the couple if they returned to the village. To make matters worse, the family has now warned the couple to leave even Dhangadi, saying that they don´t want to come across the couple when the family make trips to Dhangadi.
“We have nowhere to go, and hence we are appealing for the creation of a conducive environment for our return home,” pleads Bhul. The couple has registered a complaint at the Gulariya Area Police Office and asked the police to provide protection and to facilitate their return home, but to no avail.
Child marriage rampant in Rolpa but rarely reported to police
The family of Bhul is also having trouble living in the village. “Immediately after the marriage, the Mahara family called a meeting of elders in the village, during which I was manhandled. They freed me only after I agreed that I would never bring the couple home. And they are threatening me too now,” Bhul´s father Jayaram complained.
The Maharas are also threatening Rewati to dump Bhul. “My elder brothers recently came to our rented room in Dhangadi and asked me to dump him. They have also threatened to kill him,” she said.
Couple Separated
Meanwhile, the family of Sabina Basnet from Pahalwanpur has forcibly separated her from Birendra Singh Parki of Dhangadi9, two days after the couple got married on April 14, the day of the Nepali New Year.
Sabina Basnet´s family took away Sabina, 18, with police help, on the legal pretext that she was yet to reach 20 years. In Nepal, girls who are 20 years and older are eligible to marry even without parental consent. And girls can legally marry with parental consent after they turn 18.
“The police called us for a dialogue on April 16, whereupon they forcibly dragged Sabina away from the police station itself, even though she had told the police that she wanted to stay with me,” Parki said, accusing the police of cooperating with the Basnets just because the marriage was an intercaste one.
“I have not been able to contact Sabina since she was taken away,” Parki added.
Similarly, Rajendra Nepali of Dhangadi and Gomati Zora of Sripur have also complained that effort is being made to separate them. Gomati´s family beat her and took her away from Nepali´s home, in Dhangadi, on April 15, two days after they got married.
Gomati has fled and returned to Nepali, but her family has issued threats that they will take her away. “They locked me up inside the house for one day, but I fled on the pretense that I was going to my uncle´s house. I still fear that they will take me away again,” Gomati said.
