DHADING: People marrying outside their caste are being ostracised by their family and wider society although the government has introduced a bounty for encouraging it. One of the most glaring examples of this social malady is prevalent in parts of Dhading district. Consider this: a Dalit family in Damgade Sangkosh-3 of the district has been deprived of fetching drinking water from the public tap in the village as a punishment for marrying an upper caste. It all happened that Krishna Ramtel of Damgade Sangkosh-3, a Dalit, married an upper caste Shrestha. But the bride family wanted to punish him. One of the strategies they adopted to punish him and his family members were restricting them from fetching water from the public tap. Ramtel had married Parbati Shrestha last December. The couple has been living in Kathmandu, though. Shrestha’s family severed the pipeline supplying water to most Dalit households, according to the victims’. Shrestha’s family, however, refuted the allegations and maintained that their neighbours have been trying to defame them. According to the victims, after the drinking water supply was obstructed, they are compelled to fetch water from another village. The victims have lodged a complaint with the local rights activists and police administration. They also blamed authorities for not cooperating with them, however. Meanwhile, Shyam Bahadur Mangrati, chairman, Dalit Service Union, said that depriving Dalits from drinking water over marital dispute was unlawful and gross violation of human rights. “We shall make all possible efforts to dispense justice to the victims,” he added. The government in this fiscal has announced financial incentives for inter-caste marriages, though.