Victum of Casteist Husband now a disabled,
cast-system related problems - Nepal News

VICTIM OF CASTEIST HUSBAND NOW A DISABLED

Whenever Anita Biswakarma looks the mirror, she weeps bitterly. When she got married to an upper caste man one-and-half year ago, she had a beautiful face. Today, that face is burnt and it makes her cry bitterly.

A resident of Pokhara Municipality – 9, Anita is now a handicapped woman. Soon after her marriage, her husband, who is an upper caste person, sprinkled kerosene on her body and set it on fire. The reason: She is from a lower caste.

“Six months into marriage, my husband started coming home drunk every night and harassing me for being born a low-caste, but one night, he said he would kill me and started pouring kerosene on my body and set it afire…,” Anita recalls.

Her entire body above her knee has been severely burnt. She cannot move her right hand and neck; and her left hand has become slightly shorter. She is now taking refuge at her parent’s house.

“During hot season, the wounds on her hands start producing pus. There is no money for treatment,” said her mother Bishnu.

“Treatment will cure, they say but there is no money with us”, she added.

Anita’s situation has added to the woes of family, which survives on less than a dollar a day. The family has difficulty managing even two meals a day.

Her husband Ram Bahadur who tried to kill her, was sentenced to five years of imprisonment.

Ram Bahadur had lied to Anita that he was an unmarried man. Poor Anita never knew he already had three children and a wife at home. Instead, she felt proud she was getting married to someone from the so-called upper caste.

“A marriage certificate could have helped Anita claim Ram Bahadur’s property and the amount could have been used for treatment, but there is no such certificate,” laments the victim’s mother.