The Dalit couple had reached the temple, which is also a heritage site, to perform a 'grahashanti puja' for their 11-year old daughter Sandhya. She has been falling unconscious repeatedly since four years back.After Sandhya did not show any signs of responding to medication, her parents went to see an astrologer. He advised them to perform a grahashanti puja at Swargadwari temple, and the couple headed there on August 8 along with their two daughters.
"We had gone there to offer worship for our daughter's recovery but they treated us in very demeaning fashion and led us to a cowshed", said Basanta.
She added that at first a temple priest came to perform the puja for them. He even took them to a big hall to initiate the process. But as he began his chants, there came a point where he needed to know the couple's names and their gotra or lineage. His attitude then changed.
"When he learnt about our caste, he stopped abruptly and left the place hurriedly, saying he couldn't perform the puja any further. He made an excuse, saying he was too busy to finish it up," Basanta added.
While leaving the room, the priest said he would send another person to complete the rituals. But that person did not take them to the main temple premises. They were instead taken to a place that had a small temple-like structure near a cowshed. The place was all muddy due to rain.
"There wasn't even a single idol of any deity; it was not a temple by any stretch of the imagination. And we were compelled to remain standing outside though it was raining," said Bhim.
The couple then turned to the other priests at the temple. However, they all told them that nothing wrong had been done to them and that 'it was the dispensation of God'.
The Dalit couple left the place very disheartened but determined to fight against the injustice.
On Friday, the couple shared their story with reporters at a press meet at Ghorahi Municipality.
Meanwhile, after getting wind of the press meet, the Swargadwari temple management committee put out its own version on the incident. Tamra Prasad Neupane, accountant of the committee, expressed sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused to the Dalit couple.
Interestingly, Neupane told Republica that common people had in fact been restricted from entering the temple since the last six months. "So Dalits were not being discriminated against on the basis of caste," he claimed. According to him, worshipers have been prohibited from entering the temple in order to keep out some who did so after consuming meat and others who indulged in unacceptable behavior.
Meanwhile, Chairman of Dalit Reporters Association, Janak Nepali, said that the management committee of the heritage site has agreed to pay compensation for the ill treatment to the Dalit couple. According to him, some Dalit leaders have decided to seek legal remedy over the issue.
Commenting on it, Man Bahadur Nepali, a Dalit minister, termed it a criminal offence. "This issue needs to be handled immediately through recourse to the law," he said.
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