Four Dalit people lost their lives in various districts including Kalikot, Dailekh, Bardiya and Saptari on the charge of touching the kitchen and water or encouraging inter-caste marriages. Many couples and Dalit families have been displaced for encouraging inter-caste marriage and for struggling to establish Dalit rights.[break]
A Dalit settlement was terrorized and families of Nawaraj BK have been thrashed by the so-called high- caste families on July 3 just because BK had wedded Samjhana Subedi after their love affair at Mulkharka of Pida VDC Ward No.5 in Dhading district, a neighbouring district of the capital city.
Right after the bill was passed from the Legislature-Parliament, Sete Damai, father of Santa Bahadur Damai of Dhanigaun of Toli VDC Ward No. 2 in Dailekh district had lost his life in a heinous attack on him on August 31, 2011. The guardians and kin of Raj Kumari Shahi, who had wedded with Santa Bahadur, in their mutual understanding after their love affair in the village thrashed Santa Bahadur´s father Sete killing him subsequently.
The government had arrested murderer of 31-year old Man Bir Sunar, who was thrashed to death for touching kitchen of the so-called high-caste family at Jubidha VDC in Kalikot district on December 10, 2011, and a case forwarded after the rights activists and other stakeholders put pressure from all sides
Following the pressure, the government had provided Rs. one million as compensation to the victim´s family. Also, the government decided to provide Rs. one million as compensation to the family of one Sete Damai, the victim of Dailekh incident, and the married couple, Santa Bahadur and Shahi, for an inter-caste marriage allowance though they have not got the amount yet.
Sunar was killed on his way to buy woolen clothes for her wife and children, who were huddled indoor because of the biting cold. When stopped at a motel run by the so called upper caste Hindu he tried to light a cigarette from the burning stove. As soon as he did this he was thrown to the ground and beaten to death and the body was left on road. A few days before Sunar´s murder, some upper caste Hindus in Tanahun district attacked two dalits for allegedly drinking water from a public fountain.
Similarly, a boy from the Dalit community was killed by poisoning on the charge of having love affair with a girl from non Dalit community in Pasera VDC Ward No 5 in Saptari district on January 30, 2011. Shiva Shanker Das, 21, son of Raj Kumar Das was severely beaten before he was poisoned by a group of people for he had been in love affair with 20-year-old Sita Kumari Chaudhary, for several months and had gone to meet her on January 30. Das family was neither provided with compensation nor any relief by the government.
The father of the deceased Raj Kumar said, "The police administration refused to register the case for a long time. Later, Area Police Office, Kalyanpur, filed the case and brought the guilty to book. The government and stakeholders did not show any interests though I visited many places demanding compensation and relief in the capital city, Kathmandu, for many months. The efforts went in vain."
A research carried out by the sub-committee under the Committee on Legislature-Parliament, Women, Children and Social Welfare formed to carry out researches on ´Caste Discrimination, Methods of Resolution of Untouchability´ shows that various administrative bodies themselves in 31 districts across the country showed ignorance on this. The sub-committee, during its study, found that some cases of untouchability had been prevented from reaching to the legal criteria as they were settled by the local mediation centers.
A murder case of Ram Bahadur Sarki in Bakalbar of Dhadhavar VDC Ward No.2 was not disclosed for a week as the local police administration and the killer´s side tried to keep the incident mysterious, let alone punishment to the guilty, and relief and compensation to the victim´s family. Ram Bahadur died the next day while undergoing treatment at Nepalgunj medical College in Kohalpur after a group of Tharu youths brutally thrashed him allegedly for touching a glass of water on June 29 this year.
Dalit rights activist and leader of the Unified CPN (Maoist) Bishwa Bhakta Dulal stresses the need of taking departmental action against the government officials, who hesitate too register such case against caste discrimination and untouchability. Dulal claimed the senior officials in the government bodies even show their ignorance of the implementation of the untouchability act.
Former lawmaker Binod Pahadi said a center to look after the cases of crimes related to untouchability should be established before the state restructuring and unless the National Dalit Commission and National Dalit Class Uplifting Council are made semi-judicial bodies equipped with enough rights.
Chairman of the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) and rights activist, Bashu Dhakal opines that the state mechanism does not seem to be effective to address the issues of caste discriminations and untouchability and said the necessary mechanism should be formed to resolve such issues. Kamala Bishwakarma, Vice-chairperson of the Jagaran Media Center, also said all state bodies should establish hearing centers and made judicial processes easily available to look after the cases against discrimination by caste and untouchability as the dalit communities have least accesses in judicial processes.
In recent times, the government and other state bodies seem to be more serious over the caste discrimination problems and have brought various laws as an effort to control the social crime. The meeting of the Legislature-Parliament on May 24, 2011, had unanimously endorsed ´Caste Discrimination and Untouchability (Offence and Punishment) Act 2068´ during the Jhalanath Khanal-led government of late.
The Sub-clause 2 (A) and (B) of the Clause No.4 of the Act have clearly described that if anyone commits or causes to commit any act on the ground of custom, tradition, religion, culture, rituals, caste, ethnicity, descent, community or occupation, he/she will be deemed to have committed caste-based discrimination and untouchability. Similarly, the person who commits the offence as per sub-clause 1 (A) will be liable to the punishment of imprisonment for a term ranging from three months to three years, or a fine ranging from one thousand rupees to twenty-five thousand, or both.
Earlier to this, the governments led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, Surya Bahadur Thapa, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal as well had declared the end of caste discrimination and untouchability and declared to forward any such cases as government cases. They had also declared to establish watch centers in the central to VDC level though they could not be brought into implementation.
Despite national legal standards and international obligations, caste discrimination and untouchability practices are still prevalent in Nepal, particularly in rural parts of the country. The government, right activists, and stakeholders need to be serious to control such heinous crimes in the society in time.
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